Mysterious Purpose
by ARCCaptainFordo
Summary: A Rakatan facility sends the Galactic Republic's most elite fighting force, the battle group Defender, into another Galaxy with a mysterious task to destroy an ancient evil. The forces find out that they have a way home, but once they experience galactic genocide being enacted, will they stay or return home? Pre Halo:Reach and Post TCW. Halo is mostly canon and Star Wars is AU.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Admiral Nyles Kote stood on the bridge of the dreadnought _Guardian _on the edge of the Eridanus system. The Republic's battle group _Defender_ stayed on the edge, watching with long range scanners and stealth probes the events that were transpiring. Defender could hardly be called a "Battle Group" it was little more than two _Liberty-class_ battleships, a single _Guardian _dreadnought and four _Nebula-class _Cruisers. However that was not counting the _Phalanx-class _atmospheric assault frigates that the Guardian held within her or the six _Arrow-class _escort corvettes held between the two Libertys.

Nyles thought back to what had happened only a few hours ago, Defender was deployed to the planet Belsavis, hunting the last few remnants of the CIS led by the recently ousted Palpatine. Nyles smiled at the thought of the once proud Sith cowering in some backwater planet running from the Jedi and Mandalorians he tried to wipe out. The droids were chased to the Infinity Stronghold, an old Rakatan prison said to have housed the worst enemies of the Rakatan Infinite Empire, their base of operations. The accidental activation of a portal led to the entire battle group being pulled into it. Though Nyles wasn't sure that it was an accident, the Republic had sent several Jedi with him as well as their clone contingents and even Fett himself. Memories flooded in:

_Start Flashback_

Belsavis, 20 Hours Earlier

The Guardian flew past the wreck of a Separatist Providence class Nyles saw his XO walk up to him "Sir, Commander Sharp has reported that the droids have pulled back to their base of operations. They've breached the fortress and are in the process of wiping them out."

Nyles nodded "Good, call back all non-essential ground forces, we can report the battle of Belsavis a victory."

Nyles turned away toward his station when one of the crewmen yelled out "Hyperspace drive signatures detected! Wait, its…Sir! You might want to take a look at this!" Nyles looked at his screen, indeed there was a large Hyperspace drive signature on his screen and it was only getting bigger. Just then Klaxons started to blare out and the most bizarre of all things started to happen the holoprojector started projecting something on its own. On first observation it seemed like any other alien in the Galaxy, but then it became clearer to him, it was a Rakatan.

The Rakatan started speaking, in basic, to the crew and the Admiral's complete shock. "If you have been foolish enough to not heed our warnings and persist in your exploration of the Infinity Stronghold, then know this, you are doomed. We sent the 'entity' there to keep you safe, but now, you must deal with it. This gateway will aid you, transition in ten minutes. Good luck interlopers."

Nyles could only understand one thing from this vague statement; he had less than ten minutes to recall his ground forces. Just then he received a holo transmission, it was from Commander Sharps "Sir, one of the seppy scientists activated something; the whole place is shaking itself apart!"

Nyles knowing the stakes barked out orders "Commander, get your shebs out of there. That scientist just activated a Hyperspace portal; you have less than ten minutes to get back here!" Nyles turned to one of the crewmen handling fighter traffic "Make sure that Gunships 51 through 53 make it back to the ship, give them priority landing space!" He saluted.

Soon the entire battle group's hyperdrive activated sending them toward an unknown destination. Just then several figures stormed onto the bridge, the first four being the heavily armoured forms of Commander Sharps, Cody, Captain Rex and Jango Fett.

Fett walked up to him while the others saluted Nyles "Nyles, what the hell was that? What's out destination?" Nyles shrugged his shoulders "I don't know 'alor, but I'm trying to make sure that we get there in one piece. I contacted the other ships, they made it too. The battle group is intact. What about our ground forces?"

Jango smiled "They're all here; 501st, 212th and 14th Elite along with Skirata's boys. I guess the Republic knew something about this, kriffing Jetii…"

Nyles interrupted him "'alor, we don't know that! We can't let old wounds fester…"

Jango snarled "Can't we?! You didn't lose anyone on Galidraan, you weren't even born! How can you…" His voice trailed off, Jango looked at the floor, ashamed of his outburst.

Commander Blade walked to where Nyles and Jango stood "Sir, we're exiting Hyperspace…" Nyles looked out through the viewport as the stretched motes of light turned back into twinkling stars in the distance. The ship and the rest of the fleet stood on the edge of small system, a single planet was in view, along with a single starship. Nyles was keen to make contact, but other tasks took priority.

Nyles began his post Hyperspace transition checklist "Status?"

A technician began reading off the status of various systems "Disruptors active, Particle Accelerator point defence network online, Baradium Missiles online, Turbolaser Fusion Accelerator Cannon online, Scanners online, Shields online, Sub light engines online, Hyperdrive is online. All systems are operational!"

Nyles nodded "Good, contact the rest of the battle group. Now find out where the kriff we are!"

The tech nodded "On it, sir!"

The tech returned to him "Sir, all ships are reporting in, but there seems to be a problem with our Navicomputer. It places us outside of the Galactic rim; is it the same phenomenon that happed with ARC…"

Nyles cut him off "The Rakatan Infinite Empire was called so for a good reason, what happened there is entirely possible. But then we also know that it is possible to get back. Start calculating an exit vector."

Just then a crewman called out "Incoming contacts, standby!"

_End Flashback_

On the screen of his personal station Nyles could see the signatures of five ships on his screen. There was an obvious difference between the ships; one had several life forms aboard, all human however, while the others had all manner of alien life that neither he couldn't identify Nyles watched as one of the ships, a corvette- albeit a heavily armoured one was attempting to take on one of the destroyers while the two frigates had launched torpedoes at it. The carrier however was moving away to deploy ground forces; a clever tactic indeed. Nyles looked at the readout; the corvette had fired a nuclear weapon, in the vague direction of the two frigates, seemingly missing them. Nyles smiled to himself, usually facing such odds, one would normally retreat, but being Mandalorian, such a thought was unacceptable to him; this starship's captain obviously had a similar train of thought.

The corvette flew straight at the cruiser and immediately manoeuvred just grazing it, shearing armor plating. Nyles noted that it didn't have energy shielding, while the destroyers did; the corvette was certainly outmatched technologically, but what it lacked there it more than made up for with sheer tenacity. The torpedoes launched by the light cruisers caused the shields of the cruiser to collapse and to melt off large sections of its armor. The corvette then launched a large missile barrage, finishing the destroyer. A voice behind him spoke up "Nyles, shouldn't we help out now? Maybe we can get some answers…"

The voice belonged to the former Padawan learner of now Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker. Skywalker himself stood next to her "Ahsoka, intervene at the right time and we'll have them eating out of our hand, have patience."

Ahsoka smiled "That's rich coming from you Sky guy!"

Just then the nuclear blast knocked out the shields of the two frigates on the screen, the corvette fired its mass driver and a barrage of missiles that destroyed both of them. Skywalker spoke up from next to Nyles "Primitive, but effective..." Nyles agreed; Nukes hadn't been used for at least a century. Nyles saw the carrier accelerate toward the system's edge, Hutuune. There was nothing Nyles and all Mandalorians hated more than a coward. The carrier had the advantage over the smaller heavy corvette, yet it was fleeing.

The choice of who to aid was clear to both the Mandalorians on the bridge "Blade, order the _Liberty _to jump in and engage."

Obi-Wan interjected "Admiral," he said, though Nyles never stood on formality, that Kenobi always seemed to "maybe we should negotiate…"

Nyles cut him off "With all due respect Master Kenobi, these factions seem to have been fighting each other for long. The desperation with which that corvette's captain manoeuvred his ship demonstrates that. And anyone who runs away from battle despite having the advantage will not make a worthy ally, though I am no diplomat so I will defer to you on this matter."

Kenobi stroked his beard in thought for a moment before speaking "Very well Admiral, your judgement appears sound, carry out the attack."

Nyles watched from the bridge as the first of the Liberty-class ships, the _Liberty _accelerated and then disappeared for a moment. In the next moment the _Liberty_ jumped in near the carrier, dwarfing the single kilometre long carrier with its length of 4.5 kilometres. Nyles didn't have to be able to see the bridge to know that unknown aliens were frozen with shock. He watched as the battleship became bathed in purple light as its disruptor weapons charged for a shot. The alien carrier began launching fighters and even fired off a torpedo in defence, but that didn't help its cause. The torpedo washed over the forward ray shields of the _Liberty _with no obvious damage.

That was when the Liberty fired, the purple bolts creating a dazzling lights display against the black void of space. They impacted against the ships shields, the first three bolts causing it to collapse, while the next six impacted the hull, disintegrating it molecule by molecule at a rapid pace. Soon the carrier was leaking plasma its support structure was showing in all places, and its hangar bays an inferno. Nyles watched as the Liberty attempted to fend off the alien teardrop shaped fighter craft, with less success. The flack mode of the Multi-Particle Accelerator Cannons worked wonders against unshielded droid fighters, but against these shielded alien fighters, they were less successful. The _Liberty _made up for this and switched their point defence system into single shot mode, used for taking down enemy missiles. The MPACs then made short work of the fighters, taking an average of two shots per craft to dispatch them.

Nyles turned to Blade "Open communications with them, we will attempt diplomacy."

**A/N: This is not an assault or super carrier. It is the smaller carrier that was over Sigma Octanus IV.**

Obi Wan understood what he meant and stood by the Holoprojector. When it came on, he could see a large alien, easily seven feet tall Obi Wan began his usual routine that swayed even the most determined of foes "Greetings, I am-"

The alien cut him off "Human! Your destruction is the will of the prophets, and we, we are their instruments!" the Holoprojector went dead.

Obi Wan shrugged "Well, it was worth a shot, whenever you are ready Admiral."

Nyles nodded "_Liberty_, send 'em to whichever of the nine Corellian hells you wish to." The _Liberty_ opened fire, sending a hail of purple bolts at them, hitting them all over until their ship collapsed and disintegrated into space dust.

Nyles watched the corvette, it stayed where it was. One of the crewmen got his attention "Sir, we have intercepted a transmission from the corvette!" Obi Wan, curious to find out what it was asked him to put it through, and the message played over the Holoprojector.

First the face of an older man displayed itself "If it isn't the old schoolmaster himself, this had better be good son." Then the face of a younger man with short hair, and a tired face manifested onto the screen "Admiral Stanforth, we have engaged and neutralised a Covenant fleet in the space around Sigma Octanus IV."

The older man, Stanforth, appeared again, this time his eyes wide "I'm listening."

The younger man, Keyes, spoke "I believe that this was a scouting party and that there will be more coming, I recommend that all UNSC ships nearby divert here immediately."

Stanforth looked shocked "Is that right? Hang tight son, reinforcements are on their way. What else was it you had to say?"

Keyes looked conflicted, as if not knowing how to phrase what he wanted to say "There was another ship that came and engaged a covenant carrier. It disabled the ship in seconds, and then initiated communication which they forwarded to us. After failing to negotiate with the Covenant, they destroyed both the covenant fighters as well as the carrier. Sir, they even had energy shields that surpass even the covenant's energy shields!"

Stanforth was shocked as well, but was better at hiding it "Slow down son, help is on the way. In the meanwhile, initiate First Contact protocols, we're on our way. It's about time we had some damn assistance, Stanforth out."

The footage stopped and the crewman who had intercepted it spoke up "That's it sir, it ends there."

Kenobi smiled, "Well, this should be fun…"

**Till next time…**


	2. Chapter 1:First Contact

**Chapter 1 – First Contact**

**Obi Wan's Perspective**

Obi Wan Kenobi stood on the bridge of the _Guardian_ which had since become a hive of activity. Clone trooper crewmen were running all around it, droids securing communication lines and the whole bridge was ensuring that communication between that ship and Obi Wan would be seamless. Close inspection of the ship via stealth probes gave the crew of a better idea of what she was capable of. One of their discoveries that shocked Obi Wan was that the message that they had intercepted from them was in basic, he had thought that the intercepted message had been translated first. Equally shocking was that his conversation with the aliens had also not involved the use of translators.

Obi Wan walked up to where Admiral Kote, Jango Fett and Commander Blade stood "Admiral what did your scans indicate?"

The Admiral turned around "Well, that our 'friends' use extremely primitive technology. Their ship has two mass drivers, which according to simulations will pack a huge punch. They showed that if they were to engage an Acclamator-class they would drop its shields by 15 per cent and that is with one shot."

Obi Wan nodded "Impressive."

Nyles continued "Yes, it is. However, those two mass drivers run across the length of the ship, they probably do not have enough power to power more, or lack the technology to make more efficient ones. They use high caliber slug throwers as point defense, which is moderately effective against the alien star fighters, due to the sheer kinetic force. Finally they have a small number of missile batteries, though the missiles are far too slow to evade the alien point defenses."

Obi Wan took it all in "So they are not a threat."

Nyles shook his head "To us now, no. With an entire fleet filled with ships of this class or more powerful ships, yes. Then again that depends on their numbers and our shooting." He finished, smiling at his last comment.

Obi Wan spoke again "Very well, let's carry on."

**Captain Keyes' Perspective**

Captain Keyes sat in his cabin; his crew was working to seal the breaches to the hull of the Iroquois. He looked at a datapad that displayed the ships status; it wasn't good, and that was sugar coating things. They had all but depleted their Archer missile stores, their reactor coolant was low, thereby leaving them unable to push it past 35% output and they had almost expended their nuclear arsenal. But what made Keyes, and much of the crew remain in high spirits was the timely intervention of these 'unknowns' as much of the crew were calling them.

Keyes then thought about the issue of Lieutenant Jaggers, he had hesitated when being issued an order and was borderline mutinous. Something had to be done about him. Keyes looked over the profile of one Ensign William Lovell; he had been promoted to Lieutenant and then been bumped back down to Ensign, due to an incident with a civilian, which Keyes presumed was Admiral Gerov's daughter. The man had more medals and a longer CSV than even Keyes himself. Yes this was the man for the job; the only problem would be getting him. His reputation had landed him on a sensor outpost, which meant that he wasn't getting a transfer anytime soon. Keyes thoughts were interrupted by the hissing of the door to his cabin, Lieutenant Hall walked in "Sir, I know you didn't want to be disturbed, but we are being hailed."

Keyes eyes widened "I'm on my way."

Keyes walked to the bridge; the AI holoprojection tank was where they received the last forwarded message from the 'unknowns'. He watched as Lieutenant Hall typed in the decryption keys embedded in the last transmission, she looked at something on screen an nodded to herself "Wow, a self-changing encryption key, guess this means they don't want us trying to use this against them, just one time only." Keyes looked at the ship in front of through the bridge window. It was huge, easily over four kilometers long, twice the size of any UNSC cruiser, and bristling with weapon turrets, a closer inspection showed him a huge hangar door on the underside, easily able to accommodate three of the _Iroquois_. The Holo tank in front of Keyes lit up, shedding a ghostly blue light all over the bridge. An image of two men appeared, one had brown hair and beard that covered most of the lower half of his face, and he wore some sort of tan robe with high boots. On his waist there was an odd cylindrical object affixed. The other man was entirely encased in grey armor, which had white trims. His helmet had a T-shaped visor and he had several large devices affixed to his forearms. On his belt was a large what Obi Wan assumed to be a sidearm that was easily the size of the M6 magnum that he had on his belt.

The bearded man spoke "Greetings, I am Master Obi Wan Kenobi of the Jedi Order, affiliated with the Galactic Republic, and this is my colleague Admiral Kote of the Republic Navy battle group _Defender_." Keyes nodded, this "Republic" sounded very idealistic, considering they named their naval battle groups things like "Defender", and Keyes for the life of him couldn't figure out what a Jedi was.

"I am Captain Jacob Keyes of the UNSC Iroquois; I look forward to negotiations between your Republic and the UNSC. I should also inform you that my superior is on his way here with elements of the UNSC fleet, those aliens you fought earlier, they're called the Covenant and they are coming back for round two, and with all due respect, one ship is hardly considered a battle group by UNSC standards."

Admiral Kote replied to Keyes statement, surprising him, instead of a gruff, harsh voice that he was expecting, a smooth and intellectual sounding voice emanated through the bridge speakers "Captain, what you are seeing is only one of my ships, they others are all on the systems edge, though I see that observing from the shadows of the void of space is no longer necessary."

Just as the Admiral finished speaking, Lieutenant hall burst out "Sir, incoming contacts!" Keyes watched as several ships appeared near the first Republic ship; one identical to the first, four more smaller identical ships appeared on either side of the two bigger ships, and finally to Keyes complete shock a huge ship appeared in the center. The ship was at least sixteen kilometers long, with slanted wing like structures protruding from its rear where Keyes could only assume the engines were housed. Keyes could make out a command bridge sitting right at the back of the ship amidst a huge nest of turrets.

"That's a nice ship Admiral, I have to say Battle group _Defender _is…amazing!"

Keyes could only assume that Kote was smiling underneath his helmet "Well I am flattered Captain, but even by our standards this is scarcely called a battle group." Keyes nodded, thinking about the shelling he might get if something went wrong, or worse the beating that Humanity would take. Keyes noticed that they looked like humans, and even spoke English, a human language, but he needed to be damned sure before he made a decision like this, or better yet, leave such decisions to Admiral Stanforth.

Obi Wan spoke again "Very well Captain, we will wait here for your fleet."

The Holoprojector dulled, signifying that the connection was terminated, Nyles turned toward Obi Wan "I think that went well!"

Obi Wan nodded "Yes, but we must not assume anything. The situation may change when their fleet gets here."

Nyles chuckled "Master Kenobi, I never figured you for a pessimist."

Kenobi smiled "I'm not, I'm a realist, and it's what makes me such a good negotiator. I'll be in the officer's mess, with several cups of tea."

The doors opened and the Jedi left and a woman walked in. She had a mild tan, brown hair that reached two inches past her shoulders and was dressed in a black tank top and wore combat boots that reached halfway up to her black trousers' knees, on her belt were two gunmetal grey DX-12 disruptor pistols. Nyles turned around "Ah, Agent Deviss. I was wondering when you would show up. Sleep well cyar'ika (dear)?"

She smiled at him "There's about a dozen regulations telling me not to answer that question."

Nyles thought back to the experimental training program created by Fett to help Jedi, Clones and other Republic assets to work better together. Agent Helena Deviss was in the same group as Nyles, while she was on the ground, Nyles had flown the team's transport along with a certain ARC Trooper pilot while a GAR officer trainee named Dmitri and Helena led the ground team. Black team benefitted from Nyles early designs which would eventually see him make Admiral, while Agent Deviss' flair for destruction and sabotage saw her promotions through. Republic intelligence while largely lacking much of a formal ranking system, she was the highest ranking field officer, and as of this moment the highest ranking Republic intelligence agent in the battle group.

If Nyles was to be honest he would have certainly said that their relationship back then was limited to being teammates and similar interests; namely sniper rifles and advanced weaponry. Nyles response to a standard Republic distress beacon, which unbeknownst to him was hers, that ended up saving her from an unpleasant interrogation at the hands of Separatist agents. Soon afterward they had ended up together.

Her voice snapped Nyles out of this thoughts "I suppose you have something for me to do, other than stand around on your bridge."

Nyles continued "Of course, these guys are getting their shebs kicked all over the place by these aliens. I hope their fleet gets here soon; it's been a very awkward five minutes of waiting. I want you to go down with the ground team and find out what you can, be, well cautious, I would hate to have to explain things to the Jetii, if anything goes wrong. Go suit up."

She nodded "Got it." and then left the bridge.

Nyles called after her "I mean it, put on some armor!" she waved him off and continued walking.

It was just then when the words of a crewman brought him back to reality "Admiral, incoming contacts on the scanners!"

Kote nodded "Get me Kenobi!" Nyles watched as the space near the planet turned into a swirling portal and then several ships came through it. The lead ship was the largest of the fleet, a blocky cruiser with the words "UNSC Leviathan" on it. Other ships varied between being identical to the Iroquois and being the same length but of a lighter tonnage. The smaller ships had barely any armor plating and Nyles wondered why a Navy that completely lacked any shield technology whatsoever would skimp on armor plating to such a level, the ship was practically a "glass cannon". The next ship his eyes fell on was a large square platform, Nyles immediately knew what this was; it was a large repair and refit station. It was then however that the bridge door opened again and in walked Kenobi and his two Jedi companions; Skywalker and Tano.

Obi Wan walked up to him "Right then, shall we?"

Nyles nodded at a crewman who then typed in a serious of commands into his console, causing the Holoprojector to come to life, displaying the image of a bald old man with a tired face "I am Vice Admiral Stanforth of the UNSC, I would like to begin discussions with you, we could perhaps meet aboard your ship, and there we could discuss some of the more finer details. It is entirely up to you but I urge you to make a choice, I don't think we have much time."

Obi Wan stood stroking his beard in thought then answering "The Republic would be honored to host talks; I am forwarding the location of the Hangar Bay designated for your arrival. I look forward to meeting you in person Vice Admiral."

He turned to Nyles "I'll have the port star fighter launch bay ready." Kenobi nodded and headed through the door once more, toward the Mag-Train bay.

Nyles activated his comm "Sharp? Get to the Hangar Bay; I want your squad and Shadow Company right there to be ready to receive them, got it?"

The voice on the other end responded "Read you loud and clear, you want a show of strength, but not anything large enough to spook them."

Nyles smiled, and that was why he loved ARC troopers "Good man."

He just managed to catch the response on the other end before the comm line went dead "Yeah, yeah. Just remember that the next time I think this legion deserves a pay hike."

Nyles was about to respond, but then just ended up muttering the response he had in mind "Well, at least you do get paid now."

**Master Chief's Perspective**

Master Chief sat on his bed in the barracks, the rest of his team all assuming similar positions, either playing cards or checking their equipment. Linda sat on her bunk with her rifle disassembled before her, while she lovingly cleaned each part of it. They were supposed to have gone down to the surface of Sigma Octanus IV, to assist the city of Cote 'd Azure's marine contingent with the covenant invasion, but instead they were going to serve as diplomatic escort to Vice Admiral Stanforth, while he began discussions with the "Republic" their mysterious new allies.

Sitting on the bunk next to him was Kelly, his closest friend. Kelly's hatred for the Covenant grew with every ground operation. Sam's death had taken the biggest toll on her, and it had taken a toll on him too, but while she showed it, he didn't. He had become quieter and more reserved than before. She seemed on edge, shifting uneasily, before finally punching the wall behind her, leaving a fist sized dent in the deck plate, and drawing blood on her knuckles "We should be down there! We should be fighting the covenant, not sitting up here. We're not escorts, we're Spartans! Let some jarheads go with the Admiral." John completely understood what she meant, but as a squad leader he couldn't show that, he had to make his team understand that orders mean something, and that they were meant to be followed.

"Kelly, we have our orders, we have to follow them."

Kelly looked at him and complained "I know John, but I don't like this."

He nodded "Noted.'

The intercom in the room came to life "Master Chief, please report to the bridge. Say again Master Chief, please report to the bridge."

The chief got up "Alright, I want Kelly, Linda, Will and Fred to grab their gear and be ready."

Each of them snapped off a salute "Yes, sir!"

He then walked up to the elevator, and stepped inside before pressing the button that would take him to the bridge. A short elevator ride later, the Master Chief stepped out of the elevator and onto the bridge, the doors closing with a hiss behind him. He saw Admiral Stanforth and walked up to him, his boots clanking on the deck plate the whole way. The bridge crew gave him wary looks as he passed them, before finally walking up to the Admiral "Admiral Stanforth, sir, reporting as ordered!"

Stanforth returned the salute "At ease son." John let his hand fall to his side. "Chief, assemble a team, we're heading out to the Republic ship to meet with their delegation, and then meet me in the Hangar." The chief saluted again "Sir, yes sir!" and with that he turned around and returned to the elevator.

Soon the Chief and his team were heading toward the Hangar, Fred was talking about his "new" rifle on the squad comms "This new rifle is sweet, it's a got amazing range and stopping power and is way better than lugging around a sniper rifle, no offense Linda."

Linda chuckled "None taken, but I just think you're sore because you're only _second_ best shot."

This elicited laughter from the rest of them. Kelly then decided to tease Fred some more "Besides, you can't even mount a grenade launcher on that thing..."

Fred covered up "Who needs grenades when you got style?"

Chief cut in "Tell that, to the Covenant." causing the team, including Fred to burst into laughter again.

Chief did a mental check of their weapons; He was carrying and MA37 with an under barrel grenade launcher and a M6 Magnum, Kelly was carrying an MA37 in with the same configuration as his, Linda was carrying her trademark SRS99 Sniper Rifle and a Magnum and Fred the new Designated Marksman Rifle and a Magnum. John and team made their way toward the Pelican which already had both Admiral Stanforth and a Captain Keyes in it. According to their brief Keyes was the Captain of the UNSC destroyer that made contact with the Republic. The Chief and his Spartans sat in the seats and pulled the harness over themselves. John watched as the Pelican's crew chief knocked on the side of the open cockpit door, signaling to the pilot to begin take off. The Pelican angled its thrusters downwards, fired them once and then accelerated out the Hangar.

John peered out the cockpit window at the fleet they were heading toward; it was like nothing he had ever seen. It looked as, if not more advanced than the covenant fleet, yet had none of those organic curves that covenant ship designs had, more straight lines and flat surfaces, quite similar to the UNSC. The pilot spoke up "Approaching Republic flagship! ETA to hangar bay is two minutes."

John watched as two fighter craft pulled up on either side of them "UNSC Shuttle this Republic Blackout lead, we will escort you to the hangar."

"Thanks for the escort Blackout, Pelican Echo 52 out" John heard the pilot say. The Pelican kept moving forward until it neared the Hangar Bay, the two fighters peeled off and the Pelican began slowing down for landing. They pilot entered the hanger, and then spun the craft around so that the rear end faced the waiting Republic forces. The pilot then spoke up "Atmosphere is breathable, hell its damn near similar to Earth's atmosphere. Sir, I am depressurizing and opening the bay doors, good luck."

John and team got up and walked toward the ramp with Fred by his side and Kelly and Linda bringing up the read with Hood and Keyes in the middle, a perfect formation. John scanned the area in front of him, it was a huge cavernous space, filled with the same angular type of fighter that he saw earlier, a more blocky craft and what appeared to be heavily armed drop ships of some kind. The chief saw that there was a large gathering of soldiers in front of him. They were split up into three groups, one group had dark grey colored armor with white trims, the next had white colored armor with blue trims which was largely similar to the first groups and finally, the last group had white armor with orange trims. All the soldiers held a variety of weapons; some were long with under barrel attachments, while others looked like carbines to the Chief. At start of the assembled groups stood three other groups of six; the first consisted of five more grey armored soldiers and one soldier in a uniform that looked a lot like UNSC naval uniform. The group in front of them had four soldiers with similar white and blue armor to the ones he saw earlier, but with a leather kilt of some kind, and a soldier with white armor orange trimmed armor with what looked like some sort of jetpack.

The group that stood closest to the pelican was obviously the leadership. The first from the right was a man with grey armor just like the soldiers, he had a large sidearm on his belt, and next to him was a slender woman with brown hair and a tightfitting bodysuit. She had eyes that looked everywhere as if permanently trying to gather information, everything about her gave chief the impression that she was some sort of intelligence operative. While the man next to her seemed to have a more relaxed stature, implying that he was an officer and according to the briefing they had received he was the commander of the battle group. Next to the woman was a man in jet black armor which was similar to the armor worn by the other personnel, yet at the same time different. He had the air of a man who had seen a lot, in a way he reminded the chief of himself. The man next to black armored man was a man with brown hair and beard; he was also mentioned in the briefing as having belonged to a sub group of the "Republic". The man next to him was a younger man, with a longish hair and brown and black robes, one of his hands was black in color but chief dismissed it as perhaps some sort of gloves. The, being beside the younger man was another story, it was humanoid but had what looked like two vertical tentacles sprouting from the top of its head and its skin color was orange, save for the tentacles which were white with blue paint. All three of the robed members of the delegation lacked any sort of sidearm on their waist, instead carrying a cylindrical object, that piqued chief's interest. He would have to ask later if he got a chance.

**Admiral Nyle's Perspective**

Admiral Nyles watched as the craft touched down on the deck. It lacked any sort of repulsors, instead relying on directional thrusters, but he was expecting that since he had asked Blade to send the scans of the craft to his suit systems. He saw the door open with a hydraulic hiss, before finally coming to rest. The UNSC delegation stepped out but Nyles was surprised when he saw the "escorts". They were huge, for humans at least, easily being taller than any of his men. Even the "biggest" of his men, the Null-ARCs were a good eight inches shorter than these soldiers. They were also considerably more bulky, but what shocked Nyles the most was that he detected that they had energy shields. What sort of military force gave their ground troops shields before they put them on their starships? This was one of the most ludicrous things he had seen, but it would indeed make them very capable and dynamic in combat. We could make out that two of them were women from their gait, despite the fact that their armor hid that fact very well.

The one known as Admiral Stanforth stepped forward and extended his hand toward Kenobi "It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person Master Kenobi," he then turned toward Nyles "And you too Admiral." He turned around and introduced the other members of his entourage. First he pointed at the Captain of the UNCS destroyer "You already know Captain Keyes." He then pointed to each and every one of the armored soldiers "This is Spartans Master Chief Petty Officer John 117, Frederic 104, Kelly 085 and Linda 058."

Obi Wan turned and introduced the others, first starting with Jango and then ending with Ahsoka "This is General Jango Fett, he oversees all Grand Army operations, Agent Helena Deviss handles intelligence, and Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker commands the 501st legion and the Republic's Shadow Squadron. Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano acts as assistant to Master Skywalker." Stanforth nodded "It is a pleasure to meet you all, now is there somewhere we can go to begin discussions?"

They walked until they reached the hangar elevator, that would lead them to the Mag-Train station which would take them to one of the conference rooms when Stanforth stopped suddenly, put his hand to his ear for several moments then spoke. When he did his face was white and his voice grave "Gentlemen, I am afraid I must ask a favor before we have even started talking, as we speak the Covenant is assaulting the largest population center on the planet, any assistance you would be willing to give would be highly appreciated…"

**So the next chapter is battle for Sigma Octanus. Till next time…**


	3. Technical Specifications

**Technical Specifications**

So I thought that it might help if I explained things a bit better, namely the ships that will be used and the differences in technology. Mind you I will only be explaining the tech on the Republic Star Ships and other equipment (Remember only the tech that will be featured in this Fic will be talked about) as they are mostly Fanon, Halo needs no explanation.

**Differences in technology: Halo vs. Star Wars**

**-Shielding: **

**Star Ship Shielding**

There has been this misconception that shields in Star Wars cannot block particle based weaponry. On the contrary, it is not uncommon in Star Wars for particle weaponry to be used, for example Proton Torpedo's, Concussion Missiles, Baradium Missiles, Diamond-Boron Missiles and so on. This would generally leave the impression that therefore they would have shields that would block particle weaponry; however the Movies like to tell us otherwise when they show us asteroids smashing into ISDs and so on. This however is untrue and most star ships in star wars use shield generators that project two types of shields, the only notable exceptions of this being Star Fighters and Imperial Star Destroyers (For some reason). The two shields being projected are Ray Shields and Particle Shields. Ray Shields block blaster and laser weaponry and in this case plasma until obviously they run out of power and dissipate and the latter being able to block particle weaponry. So if hit with Mass Drivers (MACs) they will hold but take serious damage.

**Vehicle/Personnel Shielding:**

So personnel shielding varies in star wars, some cannot block particle weapons while some can, just like star ship shields. This then again depends on the weapon being fired as if it is strong enough it will overload the shield.

**-Weapons**

**Plasma-Blaster/Laser Hybrid**

While similar to covenant plasma weapons it was in essence a blaster bolt, Turbolaser or laser cannon enveloped in electromagnetic plasma. The plasma would weaken the shield while the blaster bolt would do what most particle weapons would do, but better.

**-Blasters**

Blasters need no explanation really; they are basically bursts of particle energy. (Come on guys, don't tell me you're reading a star wars Fic without knowing what a blaster is?)

**-Disruptors**

Disruptors are just like blasters and in fact use the same medium except are far, far more powerful. They have longer ranges and higher stopping and penetration power. The problem is that they have high power needs, automatically giving any disruptor weapon a smaller number of shots.

**-Baradium Missiles**

Baradium Missiles have an extremely high explosive warhead whose blast radius can be adjusted to a point for multiple uses. They essentially vaporize anything in their radius. There are several models.

RSB-120 - Used for ship to ship combat

RSF-81 – Used for Anti-Fighter purposes by star ships, low field and fired in hordes. Used alongside the MPAC.

RG-22 – Used in Gunships and Tanks for Anti-Armor operations.

RAAR-9 Used by fighters and gunships against other air vehicles.

**-Diamond-Boron Missiles**

Diamond-Boron missiles use a diamond-boron warhead to bury through star ship armor to deliver a high explosive payload.

**-Multi-Particle Accelerator Cannon (MPAC)**

The Multi-Particle Accelerator cannon fires a form of projectile that utilized mass particles of energy that are held together by a "spire" of Plasma. They can either be fired deliberately unstable that effectively creating a flack field or as a single projectile.

**-Ion Cannons**

An Ion cannon was a weapon which fired highly ionized plasma. These particles seriously interfered with the operation of electronics and computer systems, shorting circuits and often disabling them outright, in much the same manner as an electromagnetic pulse.

**-Proton Torpedos**

**-**** Fusion Accelerated Turbolaser Cannon (FATC)**

Essentially a Turbolaser with a huge barrel, it was powered by its own fusion reactor and was extremely destructive. It fired an unstable Turbolaser that vaporised most targets and everything around them, but took a very long time to recharge, such that it was almost impractical to use

**Ships**

**-Guardian-Class Dreadnought**

mods/the-second-clone-wars/images/rca-demolisher-dreadnought-skin

Length: 17.5 Kilometres

Shield: 4 recessed Mon Calamari-KDY "Protector" shield generators

Armor: 6 Metres of Duranium in most areas, bridge, hangars and reactor reinforced with Beskranium (Beskar and Duranium)

Engine Unit: 4 KDY Main Sublight Thruster Units, 6 Secondary units.

Complement:

-140 RXF-20, RXB-22 and RXI-18 Fighter, bomber and interceptors

-200 MAAT Series Gunships

-2 Phalanx Assault Frigates

-Hundreds of ground assault vehicles

-Four Clone Companies

Weapons:

-MPAC- network (500 Cannons)

-Baradium Missiles:

-RSB-120 (100 Pods)

-RSF-81 (160 Pods)

-Dual Long Range Plasma Turbolaser Hybrid Cannon (600)

-Quad Heavy Plasma Turbolaser Hybrid Cannon (600)

-Long Range Medium Disruptor Cannon (600)

-Dual Heavy Disruptor Cannon (600)

-Coaxial mounted Fusion Accelerated Turbolaser Cannon

-Quad Heavy Ion Cannon (250)

Features several training decks as well as an internal Mag Rail network, Ex-Separatist Commando droids handle in-ship security, leaving clones on board with more downtime between missions. The ship also has an internal fabricator that can supply anything that the battle group might need from munitions to spares and in extreme cases whole vehicles.

**-Liberty-Class Battleship**

** 70/files2/96958_ **

Length: 4.5 Kilometres

Shield: 2 recessed Mon Calamari-KDY "Protector" shield generators

Armor: 2 Metres of Duranium

Engine Unit: 2 KDY Main Sublight Thruster Units, 4 Secondary units.

Complement:

-60 RXF-20, RXB-22 and RXI-18 Fighter, bomber and interceptors

-20 MAAT Series Gunships

-3 Arrow Corvettes

-Enough ground assault vehicles for two companies of clones

Weapons:

-MPAC- network (180 Cannons)

-Baradium Missiles:

-RSB-120 (80 Pods)

-RSF-81 (100 Pods)

-Dual Long Range Plasma Turbolaser Hybrid Cannon (120)

-Quad Heavy Plasma Turbolaser Hybrid Cannon (120)

-Dual Heavy Disruptor Cannon (120)

-Quad Heavy Ion Cannon (120)

The Liberty was designed as a fast, dynamic battleship for use when larger ships are not available. It is able to adapt to a different number of roles.

**-Republic-Class Star Destroyer**

** mods/the-second-clone-wars/images/nebula-class-star-destroyer**

Length: 2.7 Kilometres

Shield: 1 recessed Mon Calamari-KDY "Protector" shield generator

Armor: 1.5 Metres of Duranium

Engine Unit: 3 KDY Main Sublight Thruster Units, 4 Secondary units.

Complement:

-20 RXF-20, RXB-22 and RXI-18 Fighter, bomber and interceptors

-12 MAAT Series Gunships

-Enough ground assault vehicles for a single company

Weapons:

-MPAC- network (80 Cannons)

-Baradium Missiles:

-RSB-120 (100 Pods)

-RSF-81 (20 Pods)

-Quad Heavy Plasma Turbolaser Hybrid Cannon (120)

-Dual Heavy Disruptor Cannon (120)

-Quad Heavy Ion Cannon (120)

Designed to either engage from medium range or get in close and do heavy damage, all the while having shields and armor to keep it alive while it does so. It lacks a fighter compliment and anti-fighter defences.

**-Nebula-Class Cruiser**

** . \**

Length: 4.5 Kilometres

Shield: 1 recessed Mon Calamari-KDY "Protector" shield generator

Armor: 1.5 Metres of Duranium

Engine Unit: 1 KDY Main Sublight Thruster Units, 4 Secondary units.

Complement:

-40 RXF-20, RXB-22 and RXI-18 Fighter, bomber and interceptors

-20 MAAT Series Gunships

-Enough ground assault vehicles for two companies of clones

Weapons:

-MPAC- network (180 Cannons)

-Baradium Missiles:

-RSB-120 (80 Pods)

-RSF-81 (100 Pods)

-Dual Long Range Plasma Turbolaser Hybrid Cannon (120)

-Quad Heavy Plasma Turbolaser Hybrid Cannon (120)

-Dual Heavy Disruptor Cannon (120)

-Quad Heavy Ion Cannon (120)

**-Phalanx-Class Frigate**

** fs71/f/2013/094/d/1/render2b_by_ **

Length: 800 metres

Shield: 1 recessed Mon Calamari-KDY "Phalanx" shield generator

Armor: 1.25 Metres of Duranium

Engine Unit: 2 Rendili "Havoc" Sublight engines

Weapons:

**\- **Light Plasma Laser Hybrid cannon (10)

-Baradium Missiles

\- RG-22 (4 Pods)

-RAAR-9 (2 Pods)

Named after the shields generator that it uses, which is famous for its high levels of protection with low power usages. It diverts power to the portion of the shield that is being hit the most. The ship features Repulsor engines that allow it to operate as CAS craft.

**-Arrow-Class Corvette**

** albums/h160/Darth_Thistle/Arrow_Corvette_ **

Length: 800 metres

Weapons:

**\- **Light Plasma Laser Hybrid cannon (3)

-Baradium Missiles

-RAAR-9 (2 Pods)

**-RXF-20 "Void" Star Fighters**

** 70/files2/102857_ **

Shield: Novaldex "Defender"

Weapons:

Heavy (Fighter Based) Plasma Laser Hybrid cannon (2)

-Baradium Missiles

-RAAR-9 (2 Pods)

**-RXB-22 "Neutralizer" Bomber**

** 70/files2/116519_ **

Shield: Novaldex "Defender"

Weapons:

Ion Cannons (2)

Baradium Torpedos:

-RSB-120 (8 Anti-Ship Torpedos)

**-RXI-18 "Beskad" Interceptor**

Shield: Novaldex "Defender"

Weapons:

Light Plasma Laser Hybrid cannon (4)

-Baradium Missiles

-RAAR-9 Cluster Missiles (2 Pods)

**-MAAT Series (/I (Infantry), G (Gunship), SO (Spec Ops), C (Carrier), H (Heavy), SOH (Spec Ops Heavy))**

Note this is just like the LAAT, and is not to be confused with the Imperial MAAT.

Sheild: Novaldex "Larty" – Named after the nickname that clone troopers gave the LAAT gunship. When asked to work on the MAAT project Novaldex stated that they honoured to have been asked to develop the shield generator on the MAAT.

Weapons:

MAAT/G, MAAT/H and MAAT/SOH

-Heavy Plasma Cannon (4) in nose turret.

-Mass Drivers (Like Mini-MACs) (2)

-Rotary Air to Air Baradium Missile Launcher (8 per pod, 2 pods) (Underneath each wing)

-Air to Ground Baradium Missile Launcher (4 Per Pod, 2 pods) (Underneath each wing)

-Wing mounted beam laser turrets (2) (on each wing)

-Rear mounted Light Plasma Cannon (1)

-In cabin light plasma hybrid repeating blaster (2)

The Gunship variant forgoes a troop cabin for more manoeuvrability and is smaller, but more heavily armoured. The Heavy variant is simply a better armed MAAT, and Spec Ops Heavy has stealth generators and better weapons, but is very rare.

MAAT/SO

-Heavy Plasma Cannon (4) in nose turret.

-Mass Drivers (Like Mini-MACs) (2)

-Rotary Air to Air Baradium Missile Launcher (8 per pod, 2 pods) (Underneath each wing)

-Wing mounted beam laser turrets (2) (on each wing)

-Rear mounted Light Plasma Cannon (1)

-In cabin light plasma hybrid repeating blaster (2)

Spec Ops has stealth generators.

MAAT/I

-Heavy Plasma Cannon (4) in nose turret.

-Mass Drivers (Like Mini-MACs) (2)

-Rotary Air to Air Baradium Missile Launcher (8 per pod, 2 pods) (Underneath each wing)

-Wing mounted beam laser turrets (2) (on each wing)

-Rear mounted Light Plasma Cannon (1)

-In cabin light plasma hybrid repeating blaster (2)

MAAT/I is the standard MAAT.

-MAAT/C

-Heavy Plasma Cannons (4) in nose turret

Carrier forgoes cabin for a vehicle carrying space just like the LAAT/C.

Complement:

-30 Fully Armed Clones, standing or 15 Fully Armed Clones in Crash Seats

-2 AT-XTs with legs folded on rear ramp

**Infantry**

**-Clone Trooper (501****st**** and 212****th****) **

Standard Clone trooper in Phase III armor, which while being visually similar to Phase I armor, had all the features of the Phase II and at the same time utilised better breathing filters, better sensor systems and featured a shield generator that could withstand blaster impact up to ten bolts, but this depended upon the strength of the weapon. Additionally it featured a gauntlet Vibroblade. The armor was made out of an extremely light Duranium alloy, which was as light as the old plates but fat stronger.

**-Special Operations Trooper (Ghost Company)**

Special Operations troopers utilised a more advanced version of the Phase III armor, the fielded and experimental shield generator designed by the Verpine. This shield system could prevent damage to the user by heat, sonic weapons, blasters and Kinetic attacks. Their armour was made from and alloy of Mandalorian Iron and the same alloy used in regular Phase III armor.

**-Clone Commando**

Clone Commandos utilised the Katarn Mk III, which featured Mandalorian armor plating, making very strong, however it also featured a muscle suit which enabled the user to use the heavy armor better. (Not copying Mjolnir, think of it as what it is, it doesn't do anything but help you move faster but at the same speed they did in the original Katarn armor)

**-ARC Trooper/Null ARC Trooper**

Like Katarn armor, it feature both Beskar plates and muscle suits, however it also featured modular suit attachments, such as plasma casters, rocket pods and grappling hooks with electro-stun features.

**-ARF Trooper**

Looks exactly like ARF trooper armor used in the early Clone Wars, but has all the features of the Phase III, and is lighter.

**Ground Vehicles**

**-RXHBT-120**

** mods/the-second-clone-wars/images/acv-182-bhalir-class-heavy-battle-tank - PS these links are from my mod**

Armed with a 150mm RVW-43 Plasma Turbolaser Hybrid cannon and protected by thick Phrik re-enforced armor along with an active protection system that can destroy anything from shoulder mounted missiles to air dropped bomb, this giant could take the worst in can be thrown at it all the while making short work on the offender. It has a light plasma repeater to handle infantry.

**-AT-TE**

The AT-TE's light blaster cannons have been upgraded to their hybrid equivalent.

**-AT-XT**

The blaster cannons have been upgraded to hybrids while the proton mortar stayed and a ray shield generator.

**-A7 Juggernaut Assault Tank/Command Centre**

An upgraded Juggernaut Tank that has all aspect Baradium missile launchers replacing its concussion missile launchers. It additionally has two medium plasma laser hybrid cannons. It can operate as a command centre due to its enhanced sensors and communications suite.


	4. Chapter 2:Battle of Sigma Octanus Part 1

Chapter 2 – Battle of Sigma Octanus: Part 1

**So people have been asking for more clarity on what happened in the Star Wars Universe and I will do that in a series of Flashbacks, but in either the next chapter or the one after that. I had promised to do the Battle for Sigma Octanus and so here it comes…**

Commander Sharp stood behind Admiral Kote when the UNSC Admiral, Stanforth, had told them about the Covenant invasion of the planet's largest population centre. The Admiral and General Kenobi were then talking amongst themselves; Kenobi wanted the Republic to handle the whole thing, while Nyles had insisted that they do it together, so that they could understand how each other fight.

"Admiral, I will deploy the Republic's Ghost and Torrent Company along with ARC Trooper Squad 12 and 13. I recommend you deploy your "Spartans" as well, along with any other divisions you see fit. I would appreciate being able to learn how to fight better alongside you, shoulder to shoulder rather than for you."

Stanforth nodded "I agree Admiral, Master Chief and his Spartans will deploy with you. I will tell the Leviathan to deploy Marine ground forces."

Nyles nodded "Then you will excuse me as I make preparations, Master Kenobi will take you to the conference room, where discussions can actually start."

Sharp watched as Stanforth turned to the "Master Chief" and spoke "Chief, go with these men. Deploy with Republic forces and secure Firebase Alpha. Then prepare for an assault on the city."

Nyles turned to Sharp "Commander, show our guests to the armoury, and then get Lieutenant Talon to drop you off."

Sharps saluted "Sir."

Normally he would have responded with "Got it Nyles," or "On it Vode." But he had to show some semblance of command structure.

He turned around to the Spartans "Master Chief, Commander Sharp, follow us to the armoury, but first switch comms to channel 8, on E-Band. I guess it's time to introduce you to the team."

He pointed to Flare, "That's Captain Flare, he's second in command and our heavy weapons expert, he's also a trained pilot, but nobody ever trusts him in a cockpit!" Flare just shook his head and looked back to his Z-8 Hybrid Rotary Cannon. He then pointed to Data "Lieutenant Data here is the squad slicer, there isn't a system in the galaxy that Data hasn't cracked yet, but he's not our best shot, he's also trained to operate most Republic ground vehicles." Then he pointed at Rain "Lieutenant Rain is our explosives expert, but he's a little, eccentric." Lastly he pointed at Deadeye "Lieutenant Deadeye is our sniper, he's the strong silent type, so he…"

He was interrupted by the Spartan with Frederic-104 written on his chest "is like Linda here; she's real quiet too. I guess it's a sniper thing." Causing the both teams to laugh, but they were interrupted by the arrival of Squad 13.

Alpha stepped forward "Spartans, now that you know half the jokers going down with you, you might as well know the other half, Captain Alpha, leader of ARC Squad 13. I introduce you to Lieutenants Heavy, Echo and Fives. Heavy is our heavy weapons expert, Fives our designated marksman and Echo is my second in command."

Sharp watched was Frederic-104 looked at Fives "Marksman huh? Guess we'll have to see who's better…"

The one named Linda spoke up "I'd bet that Fives here kicks your ass Fred." Fives and the others burst out laughing Sharp just shook his head and walked in the direction of the armoury.

Sharps stood outside the door to the armoury, it was a huge silver door with a shimmer all over its surface. In order to open the doors and disable the shield, Sharp would need to enter the code on the control panel. Sharp walked up to the door and began punching in the 64 digit code, which was no problem for his due to his eidetic memory. The door opened with a hiss and a disembodied voice called out "Armoury access granted, welcome N-9, Sharps, Commander. Note: All weapons are unlocked due to appropriate clearance level."

Once in the armoury Sharps went for his private weapons locker and retrieved his DX-16 Disruptor rifle, it had a 4.6x magnification smart linked scope that linked up with both his Macro binoculars and his Helmet. It had an under barrel Baradium grenade launcher with a magnetic accelerator, the second model made by Locris Syndicates. He watched as Data retrieved his personal dual Westar M8 Hybrid Submachine guns, he also saw the Spartan Kelly being handed another pair by Data. This would let him see what each Spartan's combat role was, he guessed Kelly was also their slicing expert but something about the way she moved told him that she was their scout as well. Deadeye was retrieving his custom Verpine Shatter Rifle, with Bipod and Long Range Scope, with variable magnification levels. Even the Master Chief was getting a new Rifle, he was being handed a Westar M7, the up-armed version of the Westar M6 Recon Variable Weapon System used by Clone Commandos, the only one who hadn't taken a new weapon was the Spartan called Fred; he was standing around with his slug thrower in his hand.

Sharp looked at the weapon, he could tell it was designed for Mid-Long Range combat from the length of the barrel and the scope he had on top, he obviously had a fighting style similar to his own. He walked up to the Spartan "Fred? Can I call you that?"

Fred smiled "Yeah, better than being called Spartan-104." He handed him a DX-16 just like his, except without a under barrel grenade launcher.

The Spartan took it from him and shouldered it, then looked through the scope, and nodded in appreciation "Nice, this is really nice. I can't wait to try it out."

From behind him Kelly spoke out "Yeah, that's what you said about the DMR."

Fred ignored her and spoke to Sharp "I think that you and I are going to get along very well." then extending his hand toward Sharp which he then shook.

Lieutenant Talon accelerated his MAAT/SOH gunship through the atmosphere of Sigma Octanus IV, they were heading to the city of Cote d'Azur, he was to deploy both the UNSC soldiers and ARC Squad 12 and 13. He could see the City on his Scanners, and engaged the active stealth systems. He then switched warmed up the gunship's turret, he wanted to make the first kill of Aurek flight, considering he was Aurek lead. Suddenly a voice emanated through his speakers "This is *N*C F*ire*ase Alp*a, we are under C*ven*an* attack, we *eques* assistan*!" All Republic units had set their comms to pick up UNSC communications, but this would be up to Admiral Kote.

As if one cue Admiral Kote's hologram appeared on his Holoprojector "Aurek Lead, Talon, I need you to divert to assist the UNSC, if we lose this foothold taking the city will be considerably more difficult, execute emergency diversion!"

Talon nodded "Sir, yes sir!" He keyed his mike "This is Aurek lead to all Aurek call signs, disengage cloak and divert to coordinates, ASAP. Let's punch it boys!" Talon swung the Gunship in a different direction, and then pushed the engines to their maximum.

Soon Talon had the UNSC base in sight; there were tons of contacts all over his scanners, all swarming the base's entrance. The base's personnel were firing from guard towers and mounted slug thrower repeaters into hordes of tiny aliens, but more and more appeared. Talon swung the Gunship into a low-altitude attack pattern and his hand hovered over the cloaking mechanism's controls but he saw three bright blue balls fly out from somewhere behind him slam into one of the guard towers sending it up in a ball of blue sparks and flames; theses aliens picked the wrong time to bring in artillery support, he was going to show them why. Talon turned the Gunship around and targeted the three alien repulsor tanks, hovering in the back ranks. He heard Commander Sharp's voice in his helmet "Talon, what are you doing? Set this Gunship down."

Talon smirked "Commander, the LZ's too hot even for you; I'm just rolling out the welcome mat." He then hit the controls for the cloaking mechanism and the targeting computer began to beep to tell him that missile lock had been achieved. Talon depressed the trigger sending three missiles streaking toward their target before climbing then finally descending vertically onto the three tanks, blowing them up in a hail of blue metal and plasma; the Republic was back in business, he then moved in near a cluster of buildings to set the ARC Troopers and the "Spartans" down.

Talon caught sight of the UNSC's blocky odd shaped drop ships come in and set down in the centre of the base, dropping off more of those "Spartans". He pulled the gunship backward while letting his gunner use the quad heavy plasma hybrid cannons to shred the hordes of aliens; "Dice, show these aliens what Aurek flight is made of!" while the rest of Aurek wing attacked the alien tanks, sending them into full retreat, a few of them futilely shooting up with their anti-infantry weapons at them. Talon made out aerial contacts on his screen, then he looked out of the cockpit window to see several fork shaped purple repulsor craft appear over the ridge, few of them lowered down deploying more troops, but others turned and attacked Aurek wing. Aurek 1-4 was the closest to the Covenant drop ships; the rounds struck his ship causing the shields to flare blue. He quickly contacted the Pilot "1-4, status report!"

The pilot's voice came back calm "A-Okay, sir. Shields are down to fifty per cent, but that took all six of them. My turn scumbags." The pilot then keyed off his comm. Talon watched as Aurek 1-4's gunship turned at the tuning fork drop ships before firing his turret at them, the first one started to come apart then crashed to the ground. The others continued shooting at him, but now the rest of Aurek had moved in to help. The other gunships were hit with a barrage of laser fire and with their fuel lines, ruptured, repulsor pods destroyed, and pilots killed respectively they crashed to the ground in a brilliant display of dirt, plasma, fire and metal.

Talon watched with satisfaction as the last of the Covenant ground forces retreated, with their drop ships destroyed they stood no chance, or so Aurek flight had thought. No sooner than the ground troops had retreated, more contacts appeared on the scanners. Before any of Aurek flight could react, tiny purple insect like craft flew out from over the ridge, they flew all around the Republic Gunship formation spraying plasma indiscriminately, but focusing on Aurek 1-4. The other Gunships thinned the numbers of alien fighters but that didn't stop them from blowing 1-4 out of the air. The rest of the gunships were now firing air-air missiles, the aircraft were fast, but the missiles were faster; most at least 40 per cent of the aircraft were out of action. Looking out the cockpit, Talon could see that the pilot of Aurek 1-4 was struggling to maintain control of his gunship "This is 1-4, my shields down, right stabiliser is hit bad, left stabiliser is functioning. Damn it, there's too many of them, I'm putting the ship down, standby." Indeed all of the Covenant fighter craft were needlessly giving their lives to make sure that they shot down the weakened Gunship, almost like it was a matter of personal pride.

Aurek 1-4 locked down both the cabin and the cockpit seals so that when he "landed" the gunship they could avoid capture until friendly forces got them out of there. He fought with the controls for every inch of altitude so that he could land as smoothly as possible, but with the damaged stabilisers he was still coming in too fast. He aimed for a mostly clear patch of land near the entrance to the UNSC base. The gunship came down to a few feet over the ground wavering as it skimmed over the landscape, before finally dropping inch by inch till it touched the ground. When it finally did, it tore through the damp mud and dug a small trench as it moved forward. 1-4, had retracted the guns in the forward turrets so that they would have a less chance of being thrown around during the crash. 1-4 held onto his control stick for dear life, right up until it came to rest near the end of the clearing that the base was in. 1-4 let out a sigh of relief, they were alive, for now, but even from the mud covered cockpit he could see the diminutive covenant mainline infantry approaching; they were in trouble.

Master Chief was firing bursts into a horde of covenant grunts that were swarming the south entrance. The rifle was a lot like the MA37, but with a lot more punch and far more accurate. One of the Republic's gunships had been shot down, and they were going to retrieve the crew. He looked back at his fellow Spartans; there was Kelly, Linda, Fred and James. James still had his MA37 while the others had the weapons that they got from the Republic armoury.

They saw more of the shield wielding covenant that they had seen on the Covenant ship over Chi Cheti IV. Fred and Linda targeted them; Linda's borrowed Sniper Rifle hardly made a sound save for an electronic hum as it let loose a round that flew forward so fast that the Chief barely noticed it. It went straight through the Jackals head, sending a small stream of blood out the other side. Fred sent a two round burst down range, the first one impacted with the shield and collapsed it, the hit the Jackal in the chest; instantly killing it and leaving a rapidly growing scorch mark. A voice burst out in his helmet "Any friendly ground forces please respond! This is Aurek 1-4, we have sealed the doors, but the Covenant is trying to get in!"

John activated his Comm "This is Spartan 117, we are on the way." Aurek 1-4 replied to his statement "About damn time, get here quick! We're four pilots against the whole damn covenant!"

**Again, because I love cliff hangers, and because I don't want to crew things up by trying to write when I had no ideas left. Till next time…**


	5. Chapter 3:Flashbacks

Chapter 3 – Flashbacks

Battle of the Rishi Moon Base

Commander Sharp swore; he knew inspections took long and while he was grateful for having not been asked to go, Rex and Cody wouldn't take this long. He couldn't understand why General Skywalker and Kenobi kept dismissing the lack of a report from either Rex, or Cody as something their lack of ability to work together, even if they had meant it as a joke. Even Alpha, who didn't voice his concern unless the situation was dire, was beginning to voice his concerns to the Generals. Alpha was now standing with Kenobi and Skywalker and arguing "General Kenobi, this is NOT normal; they shouldn't be out of communication this long!" Skywalker turned to him "Relax Alpha, the All-Clear signal is still active, that means the base is still intact. Everything is fine…" Alpha shook his head "Kid, uh, general, that _is _what is worrying me, if they are out of communication and the All-Clear signal is still up, then the base may be compromised! I…" The arrival of Admiral Nyles interrupted Alpha mid-sentence "The 'disappearance' of Captain Rex and Commander Cody is beginning to worry me. I recommend a small team check it out, just in case." Kenobi looked at him "Well what team do you have in mind? I'm sure that some of the Clones wouldn't mind leaving the ship." Nyles nodded "We'll send in ARC squad 12, and Alpha. I'm sure that they would like to find out what really happened." Anakin nodded "Very well, but I still think that there is nothing to worry about." After watching all of this Commander Sharp jumped up "Squad, move out, to the Hangar! Let's Lock and Load!"

Lieutenant Talon brought the Gunship out of Hyperspace. His MAAT/SOH was one of the first Gunships to be fitted with a Hyperdrive. But what greeted them was not a planet with a single Republic ship for protection, but instead an entire separatist fleet. He quickly activated the cloaking systems in hope that they had not seen them yet. He then opened up communication to Commander Sharp in the troop bay "Commander, you might want to see this, passing it to the view screen now." The voice in his helmet cursed "Fierfek, have they seen us?" Talon corrected him "I think since our shebs aren't on fire is testament to the fact that they haven't seen us yet." Sharp answered "Yes, it is. Get the Admiral on now!" Talon attempted to open a line of communications to the Admiral only for static to fill the line. Damn it, they were being jammed. He opened a line to Sharp again "Commander, we have a problem. The droids are actively jamming all outgoing transmissions." There was a pause on the other end "Take us in, we'll find another way."

Talon flew the Gunship in to where the coordinates on his screen told him, instead of an empty shuttle pad, he found a CIS C-9979 Landing Craft sitting on it. What gave him hope however was, amongst a sea of red blaster bolts several blue bolts came from the base's entrance; there were survivors. He fired two air-ground missiles at the Separatist Landing Craft, blowing it two shreds. He then swung the Gunship over the pad leftward, scattering the debris calling out "Its mine now shabuir!" He then fired at the horde of droids, who now turned to engage him, but the main turret and the two wing turrets tore into their formations, leaving only charred droid chassis on the pad after a few minutes. He keyed the com again "Commander, go, deactivate that signal, and then let's get the kriff out of here!"

Commander Sharp stepped out of the Gunship with Data, Rain, Flare, Deadeye and Alpha behind him. He walked up to the Troopers that stood at the entrance. He could see Commander Cody and three other clones that he didn't know. "Cody, looks like you needed help." Cody shook his head "How the hell did you know that we were under attack?" Data interrupted "Simple, you guys were not answering any hails, and the All-Clear active at the same time? That's way too much of a coincidence." Cody nodded "Get inside, we need to get that thing offline."

Before long they were assembled around the console, Data sat at one of the chairs and was furiously typing in commands into the console. Echo leaned in "I tried all of the shutdown commands sir, they hardwired the transmitter to stay on." Data tapped a few more commands and the power cut out leaving only the emergency lighting. Data tapped Echo on the shoulder "Nice try Rookie, but sometimes you have to know just how to work around a problem."

Admiral Kote stood on the bridge of his Liberty-class battleship, he was awaiting a word from his team, but then an alarm went off, his XO walked up to him "The All-Clear's been disabled, Sharp did it!" Nyles smiled "Then let's not keep Grievous waiting." Kote watched as the motes of light around him became normal stars again and the Separatist fleet appeared before him. He turned to Blade "Target the lead frigate, send that hutuune Grievous to hell." The Separatist fleet amidst gunfire from the Republic fleet turned around and accelerated to Hyperspace. Blade smiled "That'll teach 'em!" Nyles corrected him "It's not over, have Sharp drop Rex and Cody to The Resolute, and then get me General Skywalker and Kenobi. Chart a course to the Kamino System."

**Battle of Kamino**

Fives sat in the cabin that he shared with Echo and Heavy. They had been through a lot lately, the death of Cutup and Droidbait as well as putting down a Commando Droid invasion with Commander Cody and Captain Rex, which was big enough. Then they received assistance from some of the legends of the GAR, including ARC trooper Alpha-17 himself. Fives was amazed to have met the clone that faced down Ventress and lived, the clone who talked back to Jedi, the clone who helped the Jedi save Kamino. When he had spoken to Alpha, all he had said that he was just following Jango's Orders. They had even got to meet a Null-Class ARC and live, not just one, but five. According to Fives, Commander Sharp and his fellow Nulls were pretty nice compared to what he had heard. Then again he hadn't met the ones under Kal Skirata, but he heard that Sergeant Skirata had only the Clones best interests in mind. All this was far too much for them to take in, but now formally members of the 501st, they were going to assist in what was sure to be the Second Battle of Kamino.

Fives looked at Echo "Hey Echo, who knew we'd end up in 501st eh?" Echo smiled leaning back in his bunk "Not bad for a couple 'a shinnies." Fives and Heavy both laughed "I always knew that we'd make to the frontlines!" Heavy proclaimed. Echo spoke again "Yeah, but Heavy, if Commander Sharp's Squad and Alpha hadn't shown up, we might not be here. And if Commander Cody and Rex hadn't shown up then Kamino might not be there anymore. Plus that detonator wasn't working, and I'm sure that you would have tried to set it off manually." Heavy chuckled "Heh, yeah. I would do anything for you guys." A voice then came over the speakers "All Ground Troops prepare to disembark. Repeat all Ground Troops, grab your gear and prepare to disembark." Heavy put on his helmet and walked toward the door "Come on guys, we have a planet to defend."

Soon enough the 501st was assembled along with the 212th and the Garrison of Kamino. Fives could see in front of them stood Jango Fett himself, flanked by Kal Skirata and Walon Vau. Also up there was the Muunilinst 10, ARC Squad 12, Alpha and the "original" Null ARCs. Jango addressed them "Troopers, the Separatists think that they can come here and 'destroy' the Republic's army. But we are Mandalorians! We are no one's army; defence of the Republic is simply another job! We're not huddled in one place—we span the galaxy. We need no lords or leaders—so you can't destroy our command. We can live without technology—so we can fight with our bare hands. We have no species or bloodline—so we can rebuild our ranks with others who want to join us. We're more than just a people or an army. We're a culture. We're an idea. And they can't kill ideas—but we can certainly kill them." Fives and every other trooper raised their weapons in the air, Fett knew how to stir up that Mandalorian spirit in them. He turned to them "Now, get out there and show them that we are made of Besuilik!"

Fives, Heavy and Echo were walking off when Commander Sharp stopped them "Domino squad, I need you at this chokepoint. Hold off the droids for as long as you can then pull back. We just need to slow them down, once their fleet is destroyed then we can mop them up. Also if you see either Grievous or Ventress, don't throw your lives away, run, we have Jedi and another surprise up our sleeves. Now move out!" All three of them saluted "Sir, yes sir!" Fives ran through the corridor until they reached the position, Fives sighted through his Macro binoculars, he could see battle droids pouring out of Trident Assault Ships. He turned to Echo "Hey Echo, want to bet I can blast more droids than you?" Echo nodded "You're on! Loser buys drinks!" Fives sighted up the lead droid in the formation and pulled the trigger. The bolt hit the droid in the head. He fired another, so did Echo, and again, until finally the droids turned in their direction and advanced. Just as they neared the range of Heavy's Z6 rotary cannon "Ambush suckers!" The Z-6 rotary cannon shredded the droids; out of the corner of his eye Fives could see a figure approaching, he had a hunched back and blue uniform; 99.

Fives yelled out to 99 "99, what are you doing here?" 99 limped toward them with a backpack "I thought that you could use these!" Just then Fives saw a squad of battle droids approaching; he picked up a grenade from the backpack that 99 had brought and threw it at them, blowing the droids up. Echo then yelled out "There's too many of them!" Heavy agreed begrudgingly "I hate to admit it, but Echo's right, there's too many droids." Echo activated his wrist com as they retreated with 99 "Commander Sharp! The droids are overwhelming this position, we are pulling out!" the voice on the other end came in on all their helmets "Roger that, cut back to the command centre, General Ti reports heavy droid presence there. Stay sharp she says those aren't you're regular clankers." The four clones ran toward the main corridor that took them to the main command centre, until they saw the red glow of a lightsaber; Assaj Ventress. The Separatist Commander had just finished killing a Clone trooper and then she turned to them. Fives Echo and Heavy raised their weapons, but Fives knew that she would be able to kill at least one of them in the fighting. Just then the air in front of him shimmered and then cleared to reveal two clone troopers standing in front of them, they looked just like an ARC Trooper, but their visors were red, they carried no weapons in their hands, though one had a sniper rifle on his back, they instead had large vibro blades coming out of their forearms. One of them turned to Fives and spoke "Go, we've got this." Fives and the others turned the other direction and ran, he looked back to see the two clones diving all round pushing Ventress backward; so that was Commander Sharp's surprise.

**A/N: Those Clones are Clone Assassins**

Soon Fives, Echo, Heavy, Commander Cody, Captain Rex, 99 and the Clone Trainees had wiped out all the droids and were saved from General Grievous by the timely intervention of General Jusik and General Tur Mukaan. The Null ARC Ordo had commended them and stated that they were to report to General Fett for their commendation. Now Fives stood with Echo and Heavy in front of Jango Fett "You should be proud of yourselves, not only have you proved yourselves on the Rishi Moon, you have proven yourselves here; all other perimeter teams were pushed back far before you reported pulling back. I have talked with Taun We, she told me about something she discovered. Your growth jars were damaged, for some reason them standard trooper gene modification did not work, you are 100% me, the only other troopers that are like that are ARC troopers; Welcome to the team. Your training starts tomorrow."

At one point with the help of several Mandalorians and angry Jedi alike the Jedi rule of no marriage is lifted. Senator Amidala and Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker get married along with Jedi Knight Etain Tur Mukaan and Clone Commando Darman.

While Palpatine was given emergency powers, a special senate committee was set up to see that he didn't abuse them, comprised of Senator Amidala, Senator Organa, and Senator Mon Mothma among others.

**Battle of Umbara**

Alpha stood in the cabin of the lead gunship on the way to Umbara. Hawke's voice came in over his helmet com "General Skywalker, our night vision sensors are having a tough time, but the AA guns are out, standby for landing." Alpha laughed "Just like old times, except then you were flying." Anakin laughed "Yeah, that was a fun time." Alpha sighed "Whoop de doo, I'm glad you had fun." Ahsoka Tano spoke up from next to Skywalker "Master Skywalker's idea of fun is not always everyone else's idea of fun." Alpha sighed "Tell me about it, kid." Right next to him Hardcase spun the barrels on his Z-6 Rotary Blaster, Heavy turned to his side and shook his head "Rookies". Alpha felt the Gunship touch down, he got out and turned the safety on his grenade launcher off, though Commander Sharp had already cleared out the Landing Zone and the surrounding Anti-Air Cannons, he couldn't be too sure. He then walked with ARC Trooper Echo, Fives and Heavy onward.

They had reached the halfway point to the capital and were taking a break. Alpha left his helmet on refusing to believe that the Umbarans were going to allow them to rest. That was when Alpha saw it on his scanners, a droid by the looks of it, approaching their ranks. Alpha picked up his blaster, and turned to Echo "Echo, come with me, now." Echo frowned not understanding then put on this helmet, grabbed his Westar M7, and followed. Alpha walked up to where the droid was, only for it to jump out at them, Alpha dodged it for Echo to stab it mid-air with his Vibro blades. The Clones around them looked at it in shock, Hardcase literally dropping his canteen. Tup walked up to him "What the hell is that thing?" Alpha didn't care "Who cares, its dead now."

Alpha did not appreciate it when Krell took over as General from Skywalker. He and the rest of ARC Squad 13 were very wary of him, and his questionable record, as was Ahsoka. More Clones had died under him than under Skywalker, Koon and Kenobi combined. Alpha vowed to watch him and if he was out of line, confront him. Just then three "Banshees" swooped over the platoon, the four ARC Troopers and Tano making short work of them. Heavy shredded one with his Z-8 Rotary Hybrid Blaster. Echo and Fives killed another while Alpha hit one in the wing, disorienting it long enough for Ahsoka to slice and dice it. Krell simply ordered them forward "Move on! I will not tolerate such delays!"

Alpha thought that Krell's plan of a full head on assault of the capital was beyond lunacy. He countermanded Skywalker's plan of using a series of surgical strikes. He walked up to Rex "Rex, this is suicide, even with the new armor, we'll take heavy losses." Rex nodded "I know Alpha, but what are we supposed to do, those are our orders." Alpha disagreed "We don't have to follow orders that are suicide! But I think dealing with this now would be counter-productive." Just then the lead AT-RT walker blew up, Fives suddenly yelled out "Mines!" Everyone now began to tread carefully. Ahsoka, Echo and Fives went ahead finding and defusing the mines using the signal jammer software that Data had given Echo. Just then the Umbarans struck, firing on them from higher ground, Heavy and Alpha stood their ground firing with a grenade launcher and disruptor rifle as well as a Z-8 rotary cannon respectively. Rex joined them shooting two Umbarans with his PX-20 Heavy Plasma Pistols "Hold the line!"

Despite the better armor the 501st had already lost ten men to the Umbaran assault. But then help arrived, looking positively frightening in their dark grey armor and red visors Shadow Company arrived tearing through the Umbaran assault. Their AT-XTs made short work of a few Umbaran hover tanks that were on their way, spraying Hybrid rounds and lobbing Plasma Mortars from their launchers. Commander Sharp and his squad led the charge, soon the battlefield was overwhelmed by the ghostly blue and purple glow of the Republic's hybrid and disruptor weapons, showing just how much the Umbarans were outnumbered and outgunned. With the battle over Alpha lowered his weapon, but that was when he saw Krell approaching, for some reason, despite their success, he knew they were in trouble.

Sharp walked up to Rex, and put his hand on his shoulder "You're welcome. I bet you're glad that have that new armor huh?" Rex nodded "Thanks for the assist Commander." That was when Krell ran up to him "Soldier, you have endangered the assault on the Capital by diverting from you position! Who ordered you to intervene?" Now Krell was almost on top of his helmet, everyone one of his words dripping with venom, almost as if he didn't appreciate the assistance "I did general Krell, and its Commander, Commander Sharp." Krell smiled "Ah, the famous Null-ARC Commander himself. I order you to return to your previous position." Sharp corrected him "I don't take orders from you, Jetii." He then threw a Holoprojector on the ground and a figure of Admiral Nyles was projected, he turned to Sharp "What is it Sharp?" Sharp sneered "This clown Jedi thinks I report to him." Nyles stepped forward on the hologram "Listen to me, General, I suggest you do not attempt to countermand my men, unless you want to see yourself sent off this battlefield in cuffs for insubordination! Have I made myself clear?" Krell nodded "Perfectly Admiral.." Nyles interrupted him "Good, then my forces will escort the 501st to their new objective, the Umbaran airfield. You are dismissed, Jetii."

Basilisk flight proceeded to provide air cover for the 501st and Shadow Company. They obliterated both the Umbaran Mobile Heavy Cannon and the Millipede tank, leading to the assault on the airbase being completed far more easier than had it been done without any air support, and with far less deaths of both 501st and Shadow Company men.

The Umbaran Supply ship and most of the Separatist Fleet is destroyed when the Guardian fires its Fusion Accelerated Turbolaser Cannon.

With the three ARC Troopers present for the "Umbaran Ambush" where the 212th and 501st face off, Echo scans the armor and notices early on that they are clones and unable to get their attention activates an EMP that forces them to remove their helmets due to the display not functioning temporarily, leading them to see that Krell lied to them. Waxer's element of the 212th as well as the 501st and Shadow Company with the assistance of Admiral Kote who had come down to check on his troops after the defeat of the Separatist fleet and General Dmitri, a friend of the Admirals as well as Ahsoka Tano manage to apprehend and execute Krell after ascertaining his intentions. Krell defiant to the end was shot by Alpha, in the head. Only four clones were killed in the confrontation.

**Coruscant, Gunship Aurek 1-1 en route to Jedi Temple**

Admiral Kote stood in the cabin of the gunship en route to the Jedi Temple. He knew something was far too convenient about the death of a key witness in the trial, and the fact that Ahsoka Tano was in the cell at the same time. Additionally, the clones there were armed with Beskad Sabres and trained specifically against Shein and Jar'Kai users, both of Ahsoka's preferred forms. Nyles always hated Tarkin and the fact that Tarkin was vehemently for Tano's trial, made him all the more suspicious, of what, he didn't know yet. He was able to use other Admirals like Pellaon to lengthen the trial on grounds of lack of evidence. This was also combined with the fact that he owed the young Jedi his life several times, and this combined with other times he had helped both her and her master would make it even. A voice buzzed in his helmet "Sir, Temple Control says we are not cleared to land." Nyles cursed "Talon, tell that shabla Jetii in Temple Control to shove his clearance up his shebs, we're coming into land, and he better not try and stop us."

The MAAT/SOH escorted by two MAAT/G Gunships flew right into the Hangar and touched down right next to an older model LAAT/i. Nyles stepped out of the Gunship with Commander Sharp and the rest of ARC squad 12 as well as ARC squad 13 and the two Clone Assassins Glaive and Scythe. The doors two the Hangar opened as they walked past, ignored by the two temple guards. They walked through the halls, earning them strange looks from Jedi and other temple staff. They then saw the door that had the most amount of Guards outside, as he approached the Guards never tried to stop him, he then pushed open the door and then let the rest of his men pour in, those Jedi that were talking suddenly stopped. Nyles then yelled out "This trial ends now! This is no longer a Jedi internal matter, this is a Republic Military matter and…" Jedi Master Ki Adi Mundi yelled at him, affronted "What is the meaning of this?" Nyles looked straight at him "It means Jetii, if you would have let me finish that some of us don't think that Ahsoka is guilty, now isn't that ironic. Now I know that you felt that if Ahsoka was found guilty by Tarkin, then you had to try her yourself so that she could be tried in a senate court. But luckily for you hutuune, some of us decided to help Ahsoka, so if you will kindly hand her over to us, we'll be going, and maybe then when this madness is proved to be not her fault, we'll send her back, if she even wants to come back."

The platform Ahsoka was on was lowered and Commander Sharp walked up to Ahsoka, un-cuffing her. Obi Wan looked at Nyles "I hope you know what you are doing, sticking your neck out for one of us. I wish we could have done the same." Nyles looked at him "You still can, find the one who did bomb your temple, and try them before I kill them." Nyles tapped his comlink "Talon, status?" The voice on the other end came out sounding uneasy "Um great, but we uh, had to kill a couple Jedi." Nyles swore "Can't I leave you, without you trying to re-enact the sacking of the Jedi temple, what happened?!" Talon answered "Well, two Jedi came through the doors and killed the two Jedi Temple Guardians then they ran at the gunship with their lightsabers, so we shot them." Nyles raised his eyebrows "Suicidal Jedi? Why do I get the feeling that this isn't the end of our problems?" He then contacted Obi Wan "Obi Wan, I have two Jedi who attempted to destroy my gunship, I don't know who they are but find out, they may lead you to the real perpetrators." Obi Wan sighed "Very well. Oh Admiral, try not to destroy the temple before you leave." Ahsoka finally spoke up "So you think I'm innocent?" Nyles answered "Me and a few others, I'm taking you back to my ship where you'll be safe."

Soon the Gunship was on the way back when Nyles noticed that three Jedi Starfighters were tailing them. He has sent his escorts back but the got on the comm "Basilisk Lead, this is Admiral Kote, I have three Jedi Starfighters on my tail, and their transponders are deactivated." The voice came back "Roger that Admiral, help is on the way, ETA 2 minutes." Nyles yelled back "We may not be here in 3 minutes, double time it." He could hear Talon in his helmet "Sir, their hailing us!" Nyles told him to put it through "Republic Gunship Aurek 1-1, you are hereby ordered to return to the Jedi Temple immediately. If you do not comply you will be shot down." Nyles frowned, he knew that voice, in fact the way she pronounced things was distinctly like a Chiss, but who was it?" Ahsoka spoke up "I haven't even met a Jedi like that before." Then his comlink beeped, it was Obi Wan.

"Admiral, those "Jedi" that you killed were not Jedi, they were two of Dooku's accolytes! Also three of our Starfighters have just left the North Hangar, be on your guard." Nyles cursed "And now they're on my tail asking me to return. Hmm, I'll deal with them." He got on his comm to Talon "Tell those mir'osiks that unless they get their shebs off my tail, I'm going to blow them up, then make best speed to the Guardian!" Ahsoka looked at him with her eyebrows raised "That's you plan, piss them off and run?! What kind of a plan is that?!" Nyles shook his head "No, the plan is piss them off, shoot at them, and then lure them into waiting Ion Cannons. Besides for someone with no other plan but to run around the Coruscant lower levels, that's awfully ironic for you to say." The cabin shook slightly as the three Jedi Starfighters opened fire, Nyles watched as the rear gunner opened fire as well, not that he would be able to hit the extremely agile fighters. Nyles got on the comm to his XO, Blade "I've got some unwelcome guests incoming, tell Kyr'galaar squadron to come out ion cannons blazing, I want those scum alive, for now."

Talon flew his Gunship through the packed skies of Coruscant, barely avoiding traffic. His tail gunner was keeping the Eta-2's on his tail from getting in any decent shots. While unshielded, their laser cannons packed a decent punch; his shields were already down to 70%. He soon managed to breach the planet's atmosphere, and headed toward where the Guardian was docked. He got on the comm to Kyr'galaar, Lieutenant Dagger "Dagger, this is Talon. We are coming in hot, mark my position and prep ion cannons, you got three targets incoming. Whatever you do, do not hit us."

Nyles got on the comm "Sharp, grab your squad and bring shadow company into the hangar. And tell Agent Deviss to get her ass here to get Padawan Tano to safety. Also execute ship wide protocol 22 into effect; we may have Sith on board." The Gunship flew past the ship's prow; Nyles looked into the View screen and saw RXB-22 Neutralizers fly past them. He heard weapons discharging, then silence; The plan had worked. He turned to Ahsoka "See, told you I had a plan, and it worked." Ahsoka smiled "Well I'm sure glad that it did. Thanks for everything Admiral." Nyles looked away "Don't thank me yet."

The Gunship landed in the hangar and the doors opened, standing in front was Agent Deviss beside her were the two Clone Assassins Glaive and Scythe. Agent Deviss walked up to Ahsoka "Come on Ahsoka; let's get you out of here." Ahsoka walked toward her "Boy is good to see a friendly face, after you Haley." With that the two women and clones left the Hangar. Nyles waited until the three Starfighters were dragged in by two Gunships, and laid to rest on the deck. Nyles knew that the canopy release mechanism would be disabled, but he was sure that they had lightsabers, not that he was afraid of them, just that he would have to be cautious. With Commander Sharp covering him, he walked up to one of the Starfighters and inside the cockpit, with a cybernetic arm and sitting unconscious was the supposedly dead Separatist Commander Sev'Rance Tann.

**Coruscant, Senate Building, Senator Amidala's Office**

Nyles looked the Senator in the eye "I am aware that what I am implying is treason, but this committee is here for a reason, to ensure what I am saying happened, didn't happen. Dozens of ambushes, I have personally held off Separatist ambushes on Republic fleet positions and installations, even your own encounter with the Malevolence was no coincidence. Now this business with Jedi Knight Tano makes me even more suspicious, and Clone Intelligence has spotted a Separatist Fleet somewhere in the Core Systems, all scout vessels were annihilated." The Senator sighed "I know it's just that…" an explosion interrupted her. Nyles ran outside, the explosion came from the Chancellor's Office; this was far too good to be true. He starts talking about the Chancellor being corrupt and someone's offs him? His Comlink came to life, it was Blade "Sir, we have a problem…" Nyles dismissed him "Not now Blade…" Nyles ran toward the Office, regretting that he did not bring his DX-16 Disruptor Rifle with him, he drew his PX-20 Heavy Plasma Pistol and signalled two Coruscant Diplomatic Security Shock Troopers to join him, their IDs showing up on his HUD "252, 098 with me." He ran up to the office with the two troopers to see the floor littered with the bodies of six senate guards, and instead of the Chancellor, a man in a robe stood, lightsaber in hand finishing off another clone who was investigating.

Behind him stood Confederate General Grievous four Magna Guards and a Separatist Shuttle with its rear ramp extended. The man, who was obviously Palpatine turned to Nyles "You Mandalorian scum have interfered in my plans for far too long, you may have altered them, but I will succeed! Now you will pay with your life! General, exterminate them!" Nyles watched as General Grievous ordered the Magna Guards forward as he himself boarded the shuttle. Nyles brought his blaster up and shot one of them, the other two turned toward the clone troopers who eliminated one with their combined fire.

The Magna Guard rushed at Nyles and swung his staff, Nyles avoided the blow, but had his Blaster knocked out of his hand, he reached for his Beskad, retrieving it and extending the blade. He then swung at the droid, slicing both it and its staff in two. He turned and saw the Shock Troopers had killed one, but the other was about to kill one of them. Nyles sliced it from behind, and then extended his hand to the trooper. Nyles watched as the shuttle flew toward a waiting Providence class light carrier hovering in the skies of Coruscant, Blade's voice blared through the helmet "Sir! Separatist forces have breached the planetary shield and have begun conducting ground operations! Orders?" Nyles sighed "Send in Shadow Company, engage the Separatist forces and send in the Phalanx frigates, and then get me the Jedi Council." Blade responded affirmatively "Yes sir!" Nyles continued "And Blade?" Blade waited "Yes sir?" Nyles continued "Get me High Command, tell them it's time to execute Order 65."


	6. Chapter 4:Battle of Sigma Octanus Part 2

Chapter - Battle of Sigma Octanus – Part 2

Aurek 1-4 got out from the cockpit into the cabin, he could see the green glow appear on the troop bay doors from where the aliens were trying to cut through. The Gunship's crew chief turned to him "We gotta get these turrets up; then we can open the doors and fry them!" 1-4 protested "That would be like opening the front door for them!" the crew chief yelled back "They're opening the door anyways!" He thought about what was happening then tapped a few buttons on his wrist comm; activating the turrets. The two repeating hybrid blasters popped out from the roof with a hiss. Aurek 1-4 watched as both his gunner and the crew chief mounted the guns on either side, he then walked up to the weapons closet and keyed in the unlock code. He reached inside and retrieved a PX-10 Plasma Carbine, then signalled his men, counting down on his fingers. When he finished he hit the button on the side of the cabin and the doors opened to reveal the tiny mainline infantry of the Covenant standing outside the craft giving the three airmen shocked looks and sounds. The crew chief started firing the repeater into the horde of tiny aliens screaming "Okay Covies, suck laser!" Aurek 1-4 fired his carbine into three of the "grunts" that managed to evade the repeating hybrid cannon. He then turned to the other side to see how his gunner; Aurek 1-5 was doing. 1-5 was spraying the aliens with weapon fire causing them to explode occasionally due to their methane packs, soon the rest of the aliens fell to more blaster fire, 1-5 couldn't find these soldiers, but then he saw it. Over the horizon he could make out four hulking forms; the Spartans were here.

Aurek 1-5 just managed to stop shooting before hitting the Spartans, one bolt catching one of them in the shoulder with his shields taking the blow, a complain came in over their radios "Hey, watch what you're shooting at pilot!" Aurek 1-5 answered back with "My mistake, come in guns blazing." 1-5 then re-oriented the repeater to point out the other side, now that the other side was devoid of aliens. 1-4 kept up the pressure on the aliens with his carbine shooting a shield wielding one in the hand, getting him to drop his shield then shooting him in the head, his last utterance into the world a sharp birdlike cry. Right then Aurek 1-4 felt a heavy hand on his shoulder, turning around he found himself staring into the orange faceplate of one of the UNSC's "Spartans". The soldier had "John-117" written on his chest "Pilot, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, get your men out of here. We'll cover you." 1-4 nodded and walked out of the Gunship with Aurek 1-5 and the crew chief right on his tail. He stepped out and then turned to the Spartans "We can't let the Covenant get their hands on the Gunship." Chief nodded "Acknowledged, we will set charges." 1-4 interrupted him "No need for that Chief, I'll set the reactor to overload, it'll blow the gunship and the Covenant back to Corellia! Just get to cover!" The four Spartans and the three airmen ran for cover as the Covenant mistook it for retreat "The demons are running! And their taking their friends with them!" squealed a grunt, 1-4 turned around "Not quite." He said, before pressing a button on his wrist comm, activating the Gunship's self-destruct sequence. The Gunships engines whined the guttural whine for one last time before exploding in a huge fireball, consuming all the Covenant forces in and around them, the flames reflecting in the visors of Spartan and Clone alike.

Admiral Kote watched as the UNSC Iroquois was being refitted by the square kilometre sized UNSC refit station, he was tempted to offer to give them Republic technology, but they couldn't just blindly trust them just yet and installing their tech would take days, not hours, which is all they had. As he stood on the bridge, Obi Wan and the UNSC delegation were likely outlining a plan. He hated politics, he had to get the battle going; he turned to Jango Fett "Jango, we have taken back UNSC firebase alpha." Jango nodded "Good Job Nyles, I am heading down to ensure that Skywalker and his ex-Padawan don't screw things up. Tell Vau and Skirata to meet me in the Hangar. I want Omega and Delta to get ready for combat."

Talon and the other three Aurek gunships dived and swung around in an attempt to get a better shot at the far more manoeuvrable Covenant fighters, Talon just managed to get behind one and sprayed it with laser fire before the targeting computer could even confirm that it had registered a target. The banshee careened into another sending them both down in a ball of fire and debris. Talon's tail gunner called out "Nice one sir, but we got another on our tail, and he's moving too fast for me." Talon jerked the large gunship around in an attempt to shake it off but the fighter, refused to move or be shot down, all the while spraying them with plasma. Then an idea came into Talon's head, he shut down the engines and hit the brakes, causing the Gunship to come to a halt. The Banshee came ramming into the rear, bypassing the shield and colliding with the ramp. Talon smiled, they were fast, but he was a better pilot.

Commander Sharp was coordinating Republic forces in the base "I want this base to be up and ready yesterday! Bring up those cannons, get that shield generator running now!" the voice of Jango Fett could be heard in his helmet "Commander, how are preparations?" "General Fett, the repeating blasters are set up, and the All Aspect Hybrid Gun towers are going up now. What's your status?" Fett answered "We're coming in, we've encountered Covenant aircraft, but Basilisk is tearing them up and is en route to help Aurek deal with the shabla fighters over Alpha." Sharp confirmed "Got it General!" He walked up to General Skywalker and Commander Tano "General, we're getting the towers set up at the north and Torrent Company is patrolling the base as we speak. We're ready for another attack, sir." Anakin nodded "Very good Commander. I was talking to the base commander, Colonel Strickland; he says his marines are scrounging up the tanks left from the assault to use. Do we have those supplied yet?" Sharp shook his head "Negative General, transports were only able to bring in both companies and two of the towers, no spare weapons or amour yet, we do have two AT-XTs from Lightning Company." Skywalker nodded as if thinking "Have them join the patrols." Sharp nodded and walked off to carry out his orders.

Lieutenant Dagger had his flight stationed in a V-formation around General Fett's MAAT/SOHs. The Covenant was putting up a fight, but their RAAR-9 Baradium air-airs were tearing up the formations. Soon they were close to UNSC firebase Alpha, Dagger's sensors lit up like a lightsaber, the whole screen coming alive; displaying contacts everywhere. He had to hand it to Aurek Flight element-1 with only half their flight and with large transport gunships they were holding their own, with only one loss. He got on the comm to Aurek 2-1 "Get the General on the ground now! We'll handle these Hutuune!" He then opened a com link to Talon, Aurek 1-1 "Talon, this is dagger, keep 'em lit up, we'll use your targeting sensors and waste these shabla di'kutla pilots!" The entire Basilisk flight's targeting computers suddenly achieved locks, he assumed that they had run out of air-air missiles, but he was far from out. Several missiles emerged with white puffs from his rotary missile launch system and streamed out toward their targets. In mere seconds, the sky was clear.

**Elsewhere, Covenant command centre**

Field Master Utaas 'Relumee observed as his last banshees over the human base were destroyed. He had lost half of them to the New Human drop ships; the very thought of losing fighters to drop ships worried him, now he had to face down actually losing them. He had watched from planet side as one of the new human ships, four times the size of the carrier that dropped him off, vaporised the ship in seconds. He had sent legions of Unngoy and Kig'yar at them, but they had simply defeated them. He had to admit, these humans were far tougher, far worthier opponents than the UNSC, killing them, would let him regain his honour. But they were better dug in, their forces were better armed, and the demons as well possessed these new weapons. He would test their defences, but he had a surprise for them, several surprises.

He turned to his aide an Ultra, Lurar 'Ututaralee "Lurar, I want you to start deploying our minors with the Unngoy, it is obvious that we cannot overwhelm this enemy with bodies. Then I want you to ready the Type-47." Lurar looked shocked "Field Master, surely you..." Utaas lashed out against him verbally "Do not underestimate these humans Lurar. It will make it seem as if serving as an Arbiter would have a better life expectancy! You have seen what they did to our ships! We cannot simply overwhelm them with force, we must exercise patience. Patience and cunning, now go, prepare our forces for battle."

Jango Fett walked out of the gunship as it touched down on the UNSC base. Jango stepped out Skywalker and Tano stood waiting for him "Jango…" Jango shook him off "Calm down ade (children), I'm here so that you can do what you do better." Ahsoka protested "Hey, I'm not a…" Jango corrected her "If Master Skywalker is, to me, the same boy he was when I saw him on Geonosis, then, you are no older." He walked ahead "Sharp, report." Sharp saluted him "First patrol reported back and the Gun Towers are drawing too much power, we shut them down. Did you manage to bring those supplies?" Jango nodded "Worried about babysitting these UNSC verd (Soldiers)?" Sharp nodded "Their weapons are effective, but not against shields, we started seeing some new aliens. Blue armor, tall, four jaws, they die all the same, but we found them to be a little harder to kill." Jango nodded "You lose anyone?" Sharp shook his head "Negative. The repeaters tore through everything, and they just threw themselves at us." Jango nodded, and turned to Ahsoka and Anakin "You two go out with the next patrol." They nodded "You got it Jango..." Ahsoka called after him.

Sharp stood at the entrance to the base with both ARC trooper squads, Omega Squad and Delta Squad had been sent with the Spartans on a recon op into the city along with General Tur Mukaan. He didn't care; frontline combat was what ARCs were suited to. He lowered his Macro binoculars; he saw the Covenant troops on the Horizon, but something was different, he saw several of the taller ones, but they had different armor, there ones with red, black and one with silver. The Silver one carried two blades that looked like a lightsaber, except it was far thinner and two pronged and exuding heat. First came the standard assault of "Grunts" as the marines called them. They were now armed with PX-15S and PX-15A Hybrid Carbine and Hybrid Rifles respectively. The onslaught of grunts was more effective than usual but nothing they could not handle. Sharp fired his launcher into a group, vaporizing them and setting off the methane tanks of three others. He watched as a Marine Corporal put three short bursts into three of them, alongside on of his own men who used his Westar M8 to blast two of them in the face with a single bolt each. Data had put a short burst into two shield wielding "Jackals", and duck under an "Elite's" rifle and slam his vibroblade into him. Heavy and Flare were tearing into the other Covenant Infantry, but that was when disaster struck. The black armoured elites seeing their weapons have little effect on the Clones, switched over to their energy swords and ran at the Republic troops.

Some of the Elites were cut down during the charge, some tried to block the shots and lost their weapons in the bargain. Other reached the Republic/ UNSC lines, the first casualty was a 501st trooper who was just at the wrong place in the wrong time, the blade cut through his shielding and hit him between the plates, other troopers attempted to help him, but two more fell to the black armoured Elites. That was when things changed for the better Jango Fett came running in "Mandalorians, pull back, let the Jetii handle this!" as if on cue Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano came running on, their lightsabers ignited. Sharp knew the Elites couldn't see it, but two more contacts ran on to the battlefield, albeit cloaked; Scythe and Glaive. The two Clone Assassins sliced two Elite before their cloak disabled. They locked blades with two Elites. Meanwhile Skywalker flung his sabre into the chest of one Covenant Elite, before retrieving it with the Force and using it to slash another. Tano was holding her own against another Spec Ops Elite, suddenly activating her shoto and cutting off his sword hand and then cleaving him diagonally. The rest of the Republic and UNSC troops gave a cheer and charged forward to finish off the rest of the Covenant.

Nyles had just dispatched heavy transports with more All Aspect Hybrid Turrets, a shield generator and field hyper matter reactor; this would allow them to hold the area and enable them to establish a staging point to attack the city. This was Umbara all over again, only without a Mir'Osik Jedi with a god complex. Just then a large blip appeared on his screen, it was set to scan all targets near UNSC Firebase Alpha, and this one was big. He turned to Commander Blade "Blade, launch Phalanx 1-3, have them get into atmosphere and provide CAS for our troops, and tell him to double time it." Blade turned to him "Expecting trouble sir?" Nyles looked at him "Yes, and big trouble." Blade understood his meaning and got on the comm to the Flight Control, to tell them to launch the Phalanx Frigate in the Frigate bay. As he saw the Phalanx-class Frigate accelerate toward the planet, Nyles whispered to himself "Hold on vode (Brothers), hold on."

Sharp thought it was all over, but when the dust cleared he saw it, six blue armoured forms. On one of the creature's arms was a large cannon of sorts, one the other arm was a large shield. One of the Marines next to hem cursed "Oh F***, not these guys." He turned toward the marine "Pull it together soldier, were not dead yet." The marine just nodded. Sharp got on the comm "I want all launchers to fire on my mark, pass all targeting data to my helmet." He brought up the targeting data for the launchers; all handheld PLEX launchers were in range, various grenade launchers were in range, but now all he was waiting for was the two AT-XTs. He could hear the mechanical whirring of the walkers' legs behind him; everything was in range "Fire!" Grenades, rockets and Proton Mortars flew toward their targets, exploding and leaving a mangled mess of orange flesh and blue battle plate, it was done, their advance was halted, but when the smoke cleared, a different picture was presented. The thing in front of them was over a 150 feet tall, larger than even the Republic's AT-AT walkers. The thing about large vehicles though was that they were slow, and made bigger targets. Sharp got on the comm to his gunners "Fire again! Take that thing out!" Missiles, Grenades and Mortars streaked toward their target impacting the walker all over, bits of battle plate flew off it, but it stayed up, and its head glowed before firing a beam at the Republic Lines. Two rocket troopers from shadow company and two 501st heavy troopers died along with four UNSC marines. The Republic Forces pulled back, with the AT-XTs attempting to distract it, drawing fire, but the Scarab unable to hit them as they were too nimble. All forces fired back at it as they pulled back, he got on the comm to Data "Data, do we have the Towers up yet?" Data responded "Negative, we don't have the power to keep them online." Sharp had a plan "Just power them up for one shot, aim for the head." Data affirmed "Got it, one shot, one kill."

Sharp made sure that his men were retreating; he got on the comm to Data once more "Data, is the cannon online?" Data answered "I need a few more minutes." That was what Sharp was worried about "We don't have a few more minutes vode, we need now!" Just then several missiles and blue pulse lasers flew down from above and hit the walker. The walker staggered under the fire, now leaking coolant and plasma, light in the shape of a Phalanx frigate shimmered to reveal the ship in low altitude above the base. The walker raised several weapon emplacements to fire at the Frigate, which completely dwarfed the walker, the plasma impacted on the Frigate's shield harmlessly. The Frigate retaliated with a salvo from its cannons which blew the walker into pieces; they could finally advance into the city. Sharp wondered how Omega, Delta and the Spartans were faring.

**That's it for now guys, till next time…**


	7. Chapter 5:Battle of Sigma Octanus Part 3

Chapter 5 – Battle of Sigma Octanus Part 3

Etain walked with Omega Squad and a squad of the UNSC Spartans through the forest. Etain did not understand how they managed to keep so quiet in their heavy armor. Etain sensed something off with these soldiers, they all had some pain in them, beyond that which was gained on the battlefield, but Etain couldn't figure out what it was. Etain kept walking; in the back of her mind she was hoping that Kad would be fine with Laseema and Besany. She really missed him, she was sure that Dar missed him too, but at least he stood right next to her.

Just then they all stopped both the Commandos and the Spartans, she sensed it too, contact. She watched as both the Spartan Fred and Fi walked forward, Fi sighted his sniper rifle and then she heard his voice in her earpiece "Contact, one "Elite", twelve "Grunts", four "Jackals"." The one known as Master Chief issued targets "Fred, you get the rear, Kelly, Will you're with me. Omega Squad, I suggest your sniper take out the Elite, the rest of you on those Jackals." Darman looked at her "You can sit this one out Et'ika, nothing but shooting fish in a barrel." Etain shook her head "No promises Dar." She said, smiling. Fi fired at the Elite, his first shot taking the shields out and the next shot piercing its head. Darman, Niner and Atin opened fire on the Jackals, collapsing their shields and killing them with bursts to their heads. The Spartans fired at the Grunt Lance, killing them all. Etain knew it wasn't over yet, she felt the presence of two more enemies, out of the corner of her eye she saw the air shimmer. Etain leapt down into the clearing and activated her lightsaber; she threw it at where she saw the first shimmer. The shimmer dissipated to reveal another black armoured Elite with a purple gun that had pink needles sticking out of the top. The other one levelled a blue rifle at her and fired, Etain used her lightsaber to deflect the bolts, advancing toward it before finally chopping its head off.

Nyles looked over the brief of the agreement between the UNSC and the Republic, few things caught his eye; the Republic would aid UNSC with technology, while the UNSC would share any and all Intel on the Covenant and any other alien race. He liked that the UNSC star ships were going to be packing a bigger punch now, maybe now they could be as effective as they were on the ground. Admiral Stanforth and the delegation had long since left; they were now forming up their battle lines. Nyles had coordinated with him to form their battle lines. The fleets had effectively blockaded the planet, with the Republic ships in front of the UNSC ones, and the UNSC ships forming an artillery line of sorts. Nyles knew this strategy would be highly effective, while the UNSC ships packed a punch, they were effectively glass cannons, and his ships packed a larger punch but were far fewer in number.

Nyles watched as all of sudden the space in front of the defensive line distorted and boiled leaving a huge portal out of which 120 ships emerged. A crewman turned to him "Sir, enemy fleet ship count is 124 ships in total! What are your orders?" Nyles smiled "Warm up out Long Range weaponry, have every ship in the fleet do the same. Then have our targeting computer assign targets to all ships, after a projected damage assessment, pass secondary targets to the UNSC Ships, tell them to fire both Archer missiles and MACs, but not to use nukes. Also warm up the FATC, in case things do not go as planned." Blade looked at him "Why not just use it now?" Nyles looked at Blade "Udesii, Blade, we don't want to show them all our cards just yet."

Nyles watched through the bridge view screen as the turrets mounted near the bridge turned toward the oncoming alien craft, and then fired. The ghostly blue and purple plasma hybrid and disruptor rounds streaked toward their targets, in the Guardian's case, one of which was a CAS-class Covenant Assault Carrier. Nyles was glad to have unified reporting names for each enemy ship, thanks to the terms of the treaty. The disruptor rounds hit first, causing the ship's shields to spark and finally give way after the first six three round volleys hit it. The Plasma rounds struck next striking the carriers main hangar bay, collapsing its shield and hitting vital components on the inside, causing several mushroom clouds to bloom out from inside. Another volley of disruptors hit the ventral energy projector causing it to spark heavily, creating a lightning storm of electricity around it. The projector eventually blew up causing power lines all over the ship to overload. The ship was still not out of action, it stayed in one piece; that was until it floated into range of the rest of the guns of the Republic Fleet, like the other Covenant Ships. Nyles looked at the other targets the Guardian engaged; four frigates, two destroyers and two cruisers. The frigates were largely vaporised, all that was left of the destroyers was their tail sections, and the cruisers just had their bulbous front sections partially intact, one floated in the void and the other finally exploded, some left over systems failing.

Nyles watched as the UNSC ships MAC weapons streaked outward. The Leviathan's MAC cannon put a cruiser out of action and the twin MACs of two destroyers wrecked another Covenant DDS-class carrier. The Covenant were in Medium range now, Nyles shifted tactics "Blade, order all ships to fire ion cannons and then fire their RSB-120 anti-ship Baradium missiles. Tell the UNSC to fire their Archers _after_ we fire ours, they will waste the charge on their point defence guns trying to shoot ours down, leaving them vulnerable to the Archers as well. Nyles watched as Blade got on the comm, giving orders to rest of the fleet. Nyles watched as the white electric bolts flew out from the turrets, racing toward the Covenant lines. The lead ship, a Cruiser was hit with a three bolt burst, its shields instantly fell; the other bolts that hit it stopped its engines. The rear lines of the Covenant fleet collided with the forward ones, causing several smaller ships to be severely damaged. Nyles then watched as the missiles streaked out from every ship leaving white trails of propellant. The missiles impacted leaving huge explosions that then imploded again, as Baradium explosives do. The Archer missiles flew into the large cloud of smoke and debris, creating more of the aforementioned. Nyles used his personal terminal and did a scan of the ships; from 124, the number had gone down to 40. They could now break and engage, except for the Guardian, which would maintain position to protect the UNSC ships. Nyles got on the comm "This is Admiral Nyles to all _Defender_ call signs, break and engage. Turn them to slag!" Nyles got on the comm "Blackout Squadron, I want you out there; take out the Covenant Seraphs, there's still one carrier out there. Kyr'galaar Squadron, I want you to take out those Covenant Frigates!" Nyles watched as the two starfighter squadrons flew toward the enemy into the void, he just hoped that both UNSC and Republic Commando teams had finished their missions.

Niner and the Spartans walked through the sewers of Cote'd Azure, Fi narrowly avoided a leaking sewage pipe, he then turned to Atin "This sewage almost smells as bad as you do Atin!" Niner smiled, while Darman laughed "Just like on Qiilura!" The Master Chief receiving this as well; just shook his head. He then pulled out a device "Fred, set up the HAVOK, we're going ahead." Niner turned to the Chief "Hold it; we have orders to investigate alone, not blow the kriffing place up!" Master Chief walked up to him "Those are your orders." Niner argued "Both the UNSC and Republic ground forces are awaiting our signal to attack the city, we can't destroy it." The Spartan known as Fred walked up to him "Have you seen the number of Covenant Ships, there won't be a city to liberate." Nine walked up to Fred "We haven't lost yet! Unless I get a general evac order from the Admiral, I am not letting you placing any charges." The Spartan Kelly walked up to the Master Chief and placed her hand on his shoulder "Niner, is right John, our fleet hasn't lost yet…" Just then a voice buzzed in Niner's helmet.

"Omega Squad, check in! We have the Covenant fleet on the run, but we have detected a microburst transmission coming from the Museum, get there now!" Fred looked at him "Looks like we won't need this nuke after all." Just then another voice buzzed in his helmet "Sir, we have survivors. We found some civilians hiding out in a cargo ship, some of them have injuries. Damn it, we got inbound, we need support! Linda, take out that hinge head!" John looked at Niner "Niner, can the Republic spare any drop ships? I have no more teams to divert, the Covenant already are swarming them. " Niner looked at Etain "General, if you can get Commander Sharp to spare a Spec Ops Gunship, we can get those civilians out in no time. Plus Delta can provide fire support, I'm sure that they're dying to get some action." Etain nodded and brought her wrist comm up to her mouth "Sharp, this is General Tur Mukaan, can you spare a Gunship. We have a UNSC Spartan team under heavy fire, they have civilians…" Sharp cut her off "No need to say anymore general, I'll have Delta move their lazy shebs (asses) and extract them." The Spartans relaxed their posture, ever so slightly, but Niner could make it out, they were relieved for their comrades.

Boss sat on one of the empty supply crates; he was flicking through the various reports that were coming in from Shadow Company ARF scouts near the city. Just then he could see Commander Sharp walking toward him from the corner of his eye "What happened Sharp, need something done, something an ARC can't do." "Stow it Boss, I need Delta on the move now, it's time to get to work." Boss smiled and picked up his helmet "Delta, let's move out!" Delta squad jumped up, Sev cracked his knuckles "Finally, some action. Here I was beginning to think that I wasn't going to be able to kill something." Scorch picked up some ammo for his Westar-M6 in Anti-Armor configuration "You ever get tired of killing things you psycho?" Sev shook his head "You're just jealous that you have a lower kill count, you Di'kut (Idiot)." Fixer picked up his Datapad and walked in between them "Can it, the both of you." Boss shook his head "I don't get paid enough for this, Delta, to the Gunship."

Elite Ultra Lurar 'Ututaralee observed the ambush on the demons in the wharf, he had left those humans alive for a reason, and now, the trap was sprung. Lurar watched as Elite led Unngoy and Kig'yar lances ran at the enemies. He was going to tire them out before sending in the Spec Ops squad. He had already lost one squad to the other demons; he was going to make these demons pay. He got on his communicator to the Field Master "Field Master 'Relumee, we have the demons cornered!" The Field Master was happy "Good job, Lurar, wait till their strength fails and then crush them." Lurar smiled at the thought of defeating the demons "Yes Field Master, it will be done!" An Elite Minor waited beside him, he waved the Elite on. He then looked at his two Major bodyguards "Come, we must be patient."

Delta squad stood in the Gunship as it sped onward toward the city. Boss watched the rest of their squad as they readied their weapons, he got on the comm to the Gunship Pilot "Talon, what's out ETA, Sev needs to kill something, or he just might kill Scorch." Talon laughed "Not too long, wait, I, see them, damn that's a lot of bodies." Sev burst out "Drive faster Talon, I'm missing the party." Scorch put his hand on Sev's shoulder "I don't think that they invited you, Vode (Brother)." Boss watched as the doors opened and their gunship hovered over the collection of cargo containers that the Spartans were using as cover, while the other one landed behind the crates. Boss increased the volume on his external speakers "Spartan team, this is Republic Commando Squad Delta, get the civilians to the Gunship, we'll cover you." Boss fired his rifle at two grunts, killing them. Talon used the gunship's turret to spray four jackals with plasma rounds, collapsing their shields and peppering their bodies. Scorch killed Elite with his Anti-Armour round, which was advancing on the retreating civilians. Fixer threw a reverse polarity EMP grenade that took out the shields of three jackals, while both he and Boss killed them with their combined fire. Sev was firing rapidly into the crowd of aliens, killing a Jackal and four Grunts. A voice buzzed in their Helmets "This is Spartan-029, all civilians safe, now how about some pickup." Boss smiled "Thought you'd never ask, Spartan." Boss highlighted targets on his HUD for the rest of the team, while the Gunship lowered itself into position to extract the Spartans. The Gunship that had picked up the civilians moved into a support position, but that was when disaster struck. Four of the armoured blue hulking aliens walked in among the Covenant ranks, ramming any grunt or jackal in their way. They raised their arms and fired at the Gunship. Boss got on the comm "Aurek 1-7, pull out; get the civilians out of here!" Boss watched as the Gunship stood in place, its shields taking a few more shots from the armoured aliens, as if the pilot was debating whether to argue or not, before then finally turning around and flying off into the distance.

Scorch had enough of the Elites, he fired four anti-armor rounds at them, each round hitting either the head, or exposed torso. The aliens blew up in a hail of orange flesh, blood and blue battle plate. Boss could see Scorch smiling underneath his helmet in his HUD, Scorch congratulated himself "Kandosii! (Awesome) Can I get any better?" Boss tapped him "Yes, you can finally stop making Fixer and I sort you and Sev out. We should tell Commander Sharp that they can be brought down with fewer explosives, they aren't that tough after all." The Spartans covered each other's retreats, firing bursts off at the approaching Elites, but something else caught Boss's eye, a shimmering near the entrance to the wharf. Boss switched his visor to thermal mode, revealing the heat signatures of the Elites. He patched the targets to Delta Squad, "Delta, we have some hidden party guests, lets show them our hospitality!" Delta squad opened fire, giving the first wave of Spartans the chance to jump on. The last Spartan to get on was one with 029 on his chest. The FOF tag read "Joshua-029", he turned to the other two finally left over "Will, Linda, come on, let's move!" Boss and squad along with the Spartans kept firing, but one Spartan, the one called Linda, was actually killing things. Boss watched as Linda fired at the Elites while walking backward, a shot hit her shields and then she broke into a run, firing her sniper rifle as she did, killing three Elites with two shots. The first hitting an Elite in the head, and the third hitting another Spec Ops Elite in the chest, passing through his chest and then going through him and hitting yet another Elite who was crouched behind it in the head. Boss heard Sev whistle "I think I'm in love…" Fixer interrupted him "I'm pretty sure, she's taken Sev, besides aren't you a bit short for her?" the Spartan know as Joshua looked at Sev "She's taken, at least I think so…" Sev simply nodded while firing "I have a chance then…" his voice trailed off as he kept firing. Linda finally leapt into the Gunship, she turned to Sev and said "I heard all of that, sorry not interested. I have only one love," she said, holding up her Sniper Rifle. Boss just shook his head and hit the door controls closing the doors and signalling Talon to leave.

On the Guardian Nyles watched as the Fleet were engaging each other. The UNSC vessels acted as fire support, sniping at Covenant Ships that dared to flee while the Guardian fired its weapons at any of the Covenant ships that attempted to come anywhere near the UNSC ships, acting like a mother bear protecting her cubs. Blade ran up to him "Sir, we detected a transmission coming from the surface sir, one that originates from Sigma Octanus city; they're transmitting to a stealth ship. The _Iroquois_ is on an intercept vector." Nyles put his hand on his chin in thought, if they could capture the ship, then they could get the data."Blade, get me Captain Keyes." Keyes figure soon appeared on his Holoprojector "Keyes, break off attack, we can capture this ship!" Keyes shook his head "Negative Admiral, they always blow themselves up when we come close to capturing their ships!" Nyles nodded and smiled "Probably, but they never faced Ion cannons before, we'll disable their systems before they can even think of blowing themselves up." Keyes was in thought, recollecting how Republic Ion cannons fired the shields on a Covenant cruiser in three shots. "Very well Admiral, the _Iroquois, _will break off its attack." Nyles smiled "Good, now it's my turn." He activated his comm "Kyr'galaar squadron, this is Admiral Nyles, I want you to disable a particular Covenant ship in orbit around the planet. When you're done, escort the boarding craft over." The pilot on the other line cheered "Alright boys, a challenge at last. Let's move out!" Nyles knew that _not _blowing something up was indeed a challenge for them, but he watched them accelerate toward the ship and watched the _Iroquois _reorient toward the battle.

The bombers flew at the Covenant ship, the Covenant ship fired pulse lasers at them, hitting the shields of one of the pilots, causing the craft to waver for a second, but stay on course. The ion cannons on their wingtips glowed white for a second before discharging. The white bolts a contrast to the dark void of space. The Covenant craft attempted to activate their engines to move out of the way, but they were too slow; the ion bolts hit, first collapsing their shields, and then disabling their engines, sensors and control systems. The bridge crew cheered, Nyles smiled "Get me Commander Cody; I want him ready to board that ship."

Commander Cody walked toward the Gunship with his squad in tow. He had with him Wooley, Waxer, Boil, Longshot, Gearshift and Trapper among others. Longshot had a PX-15A Plasma Rifle, Gearshift and Trapper both had PX-15A Plasma Carbines. Cody, Waxer and Boil all had the Westar M8. The Westar M8 had a slightly better stopping power than the M7 used by the Commandos, but was less versatile. Cody sat in the Gunship and he watched as the doors closed once they were all inside. A figure in grey armor dominated the holo communicator that activated as soon as the Gunship took off, "Commander, this isn't going to be an easy mission, but it's a small ship. Your mission is to escort 5L1C3 to the bridge, where he will download all the data from the ship. Good luck, Commander." Cody turned around to finally see the droid that they were supposed to escort, it was a reprogrammed Separatist BX-Commando droid, just like the ones used aboard many Republic ships, it turned to him "Do not worry Commander, this unit's combat protocols are up to standard." He said as he raised a Westar M7, Boil looked at it, Cody knew what he was thinking, just because they were glad it wasn't shooting at them, they didn't trust it yet, but the fact that the Admiral did, made Cody at least more comfortable.

The Gunship sped on toward the disabled ship, since the ship did not have a visible hangar bay, they were going to go EVA, but that didn't matter, the new armor was atmospherically shielded, along with a recyclable air supply that lasted for three hours, plus the ability to pull oxygen from toxic atmospheres. The pilot announced their ETA over the comm "Commander, we are a minute out, get your gear ready." Cody turned to his team "Check your seals, grab your gear, we have one minute! No mistakes!" Soon the gunship touched down on the hull, Cody approached where the Admiral had said the airlock would be. Cody saw that indeed there was some sort of airlock on the hull, he turned to 5L1C3 "5L1C3 get here, hack this airlock. Squad cover him." 5L1C3 walked up to the airlock, his digits on his right hand disassembled into fibrous cables and he ripped off a panel, and then started fidgeting with the circuits. Cody turned around and he saw several Jump Pack Elites approaching them from the right "Contact right, squad engage. Gearshift, Trapper, keep 5L1C3 in one piece! Waxer, Boil, Wooley, with me, lets show them some Republic Hospitality." Cody put a burst into one, dropping its shields, then blasting it in the face with another burst, Waxer and Boil killed another two. The last ran at Commander Cody firing his plasma rifle at him, Cody ran at him, jabbed his hand with his Vibro knife, causing his to drop his weapon. The elite threw a punch at Cody, hitting him in the chest, causing him to be pushed back, Cody flew forward with the burst from his Jetpack, throwing an uppercut at the Elite, stunning him and then firing his PX-17 into his face. Cody then walked back to 5L1C3 and the others Boil held onto his shoulder "Nice Job, Commander." Cody smiled "Come on, Boil, let's move on." They all went through the airlock while 5L1C3 closed it behind them. He consulted his Map before moving on "Come on, the bridge is this way."

Cody stood on the bridge with the others; they hadn't encountered many Elite yet, just the two on the bridge and the four in EVA suits outside. 5L1C3 was plugged into the bridge computer, he turned to Commander Cody "Commander, this ship has been locked out of the Covenant Battlenet; however the data is on the ship as well, but the Covenant already have it. Additionally the data is encrypted and I will require a minute to decrypt it. Cody turned to his team "Prepare to hold your positions, we need to give 5L1C3 all the time he needs…" but he found himself interrupted by 5L1C3 "Commander, I said I needed a minute at the outer boundary. The enemies will not have time to attempt to reorganise. Data decryption and download progress at 80%, I now have the key, we may depart the ship." Cody raised his eyebrows in surprise, that done quickly "All right, let's get out of here." He got on the comm to Admiral Nyles "Admiral, we have the data and are on our way out." Nyles voice on the other end answered "Good job, Commander. Get you shebs out of there!" Cody and his men ran through the purple corridors to the airlock they came through and jumped into the Gunship that swooped into position to pick them up. Cody sat in his crash seat as the Gunship accelerate to avoid getting caught in the fireball that the Covenant ship was going to become as two Phalanx Frigates moved into position, spraying weapon fire at it, puncturing its hull.

**A/N: I have always hated those missions in most games where a squad mate is hacking some sort of computer system and you have to defend them. **

Master Chief walked up to one of the manhole covers and turned to Fred "Fred, it this the place?" Fred nodded "Its right above here, Cote'd Azure museum." Chief reached into his pouch for a fibre optic cable when Niner stopped him "Chief, that's going to give us a far more limited view than Fi's recon droids." Fi reached into his pack and pulled out a circular recon droid and activated it. The droid hummed and then hovered in his hand. Fi spoke to it like one would do to a pet "Yes, I've missed you too! You just need to go up there and tell us how many baddies there are. Oh and don't forget to cloak!" the droid beeped again, cloaked and vanished upward. Instantly feed was relayed to the four commando's and then from their relayed to the Spartans. Fi announced what he saw "Okay, let's have a looksee. I see that we have three stationary guns, tons of those bird guys, yep, we should totally avoid the front entrance." Chief nodded "Agreed. We can go around the back."

Soon the Spartans and the four commandos and Etain were walking in through the back entrance of the museum. Etain frowned "I have a bad feeling about this." Kelly comforted her "I'm sure it will be fine." Darman argued "May not be, last time Etain had a bad feeling we landed up in a nest of Clankers. But I don't see anything…" They then came across the body of a jackal, but it had been crushed. Darman took one look at it and cringed "See, that's proof that something is off. The ones on the outside are alive." They walked on and Kelly looked at the crushed Jackal "I would hate to see the thing that did that." The team moved on until they found themselves in a large open area, in the centre was a large structure; beside it was a scanner that had a large piece of igneous rock inside. Kelly identified it as the source of the microburst transmissions "That's the source of the microburst transmissions." Fred scoffed "Doesn't look very special to me." Fi agreed "I know, looks like a regular rock to me." Chief looked around "We should find some way to power it down before taking it out." Fred looked at him "You think it's worth taking?" Chief argued "The Covenant do…" he was however interrupted by the sound of heavy footfalls. Kelly looked toward the source of the sound "Whatever we're going to do, let's do it quickly." Niner nodded "Yeah, let's double time it."

Just then a large blue armoured alien appeared, growling. The Spartans and the Commandos opened fire, the bolts were melting through the armor but it was far too thick to matter. Another hunter came out from nowhere and whacked both Darman and John. John's shields collapsed and he hit the wall. Darman's shields held, but drained to half, and then collapsed when he hit the wall next to John. Respective team members called out their names Kelly yelling out Chief's and Etain yelling out Darman's. Chief recovered and seeing the Hunter going to shoot James and Kelly tried to warn them "James, Kelly, move!" just then Etain came flying past him, blue lightsaber ignited, she threw herself at the hunter at a superhuman speed. She landed in front of the beast, which raised its weapon to attack her. Etain used her sabre to cut the weapon in two, before proceeding to slice at its midsection cutting it in two. Its pod brother turned to Etain ready to blast her, when two Baradium grenades flew toward it; she turned around and saw the Master Chief's, Darman's and Niner's launchers smoking. Darman yelled at her to get down "Et'ika, get down!" Etain dived to cover as the grenades blew up as they triggered the fuse killing the last Hunter. Master Chief got to his feet "If they got this kind of muscle guarding it, then this must be important. Niner bent his head as if listening then interrupted "Actually, we have that data from the transmission. The Covenant ship that it was being transmitted to was boarded and the data copied. The ship was then destroyed. We also ascertained that that the Covenant has the data as well." Fred nodded "Well that's good news, and bad news." The team walked onward and Kelly put her gauntleted hand on Etain's shoulder "That was really good, thanks." Etain smiled, she was sure that Kelly was smiling too "My pleasure."

As they attempted to exit the museum they found a horde of grunts blocking their way. Darman commented on the persistence of the Covenant as he dove to cover "These guys just don't know when to quit." Then from behind the grunts blaster fire slammed into them, followed by a few grenades. When the smoke cleared there stood Commander Sharp and his squad, Data stepped forward and nodded "I thought you guys might need some help." Darman just shook his head "You cheeky Di'kuts." Data was seemed affronted, he touched his chest "ME, you calling me a Di'kut, have you seen yourself." Darman argued "You must have me confused with Fi." Fi started "Hey!" eliciting laughter from the Commandos and the Spartans once it was explained to them, they all then walked to the waiting Gunship outside. Once outside, Darman could see the Gunships flying away from the city, the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV was over.

Nyles stood with Walon Vau, Kal Skirata and Jango Fett on the bridge. Jango was congratulating them both on their training of both Delta and Omega squads. "You both trained your squads well, Delta and Omega showed ability to adapt to a new foe. Delta helped with the evacuation of a squad of UNSC Spartans and Omega helped another Spartan team with their objective." Walon Vau asked in surprise that they had assisted the Spartans "The big guys? Wow, they looked like walking tanks to me." Kal joked "Figures, Ori'buyce, kih'kovid." Jango shook his head "That's not what you ade say, Kal. They say that they're quite effective fighters, happy to work with them again." Kal smiled "Well, I may just be a little overprotective." Nyles smiled and walked toward Blade "Blade, how close are we to getting analysing that data." Blade looked back "Close sir, wait, what the kriff?" Nyles frowned "What?" "Something is accessing our systems." Nyles demanded to know what "What is?" Blade frowned as he looked at the display "It's like nothing I have ever seen." Nyles cursed "I want all processing power to be focused on finding and zapping this thing!" Blade shook his head "Negative sir, we're already at max capacity." Nyles cursed again "What the hell is this thing?" Blade called him "Sir? The data? It's gone." Nyles took the logical approach "Have we found the source?" Blade shook his head. Nyles smacked his hands into the console in distress "Damn!" just then a figure appeared on his Holoprojector, it was a Rakatan. Nyles remembered this one; it was the same one that appeared when all of this started "You. What do you want, how are you in our systems?" It gave the Rakatan equivalent of a smile "Admiral Nyles, you misunderstand, I am not a recording left behind by my people, I am their shadow, a guardian of their relics, of the Infinity Stronghold." Nyles didn't care "How does that help me, that data is gone!" the Rakatan didn't seem to care "No matter, I know where in this galaxy they refer to." Nyles walked up to him "Speak, how do you know? And once you tell us what are you going to do?" the being smiled again "Simple Admiral, I did not give you a task without intending to aid you. I will interface with your systems and prevent another attack." Nyles interrupted him "How did you know about that? Who is responsible?" he refused to answer "That is immaterial, however to answer your question about how I knew the coordinates, the answer is simple; I was there." Nyles seemed interested, how was this Rakatan there? "Continue."

**That's it guys, for now. Oh and no, the Rakatans are not the Forerunners, but yes they are connected and you will have to wait till the next chapter to find out how. Till next time…**


	8. Chapter 6: Aftermath and Answers

Chapter 6 – Aftermath and Answers

The Rakatan stared at Nyles in the face "Very well," by now, the entire bridge crew crowded around the Holoprojector, as well as the two Mandalorian training sergeants and Fett. "I will tell what you need to know, the location that the coordinates lead to have something that will help you on your quest. I know about it because after we defeated the Kwa, we improved their Infinity Gate technology, incorporating it into our Hyperdrives, and stumbled upon their Galaxy, much as you came upon another Galaxy in search for your comrade, Admiral Nyles." Nyles made to interrupt but then stopped himself; the AI was in the ship's systems after all, it could have simply checked the logs. "What you saw was a side-effect of our interference in this galaxy. Our enemies simply moved more of your kind, oh, I apologize; you are part Taung, they moved humans to those galaxies. I cannot reveal more, you must make with haste to the location; these "Covenant" meddlers are poised to unleash evil upon this galaxy and ours."

The Holoprojector dulled "What the kriff was that?" Blade shrugged "Beats me Admiral, it wasn't a pre-recorded message like what we saw elsewhere on Belsavis, the intelligence obviously copied itself into our computers, perhaps its runtimes crashed?" the Holoprojector came back to life "I am still very much here Commander, is there any reason you fail to heed my advice? On another note, I have completed your calculations for your Hyperspace jump, it will take a few days for any ship you choose to send back to reach Coruscant. I suggest you converse with your allies regarding sending a fleet to the coordinates, should you so wish I have programmed them into your Navigational computer." Nyles shrugged "Well, at least he's useful…" Jango nodded "Ground forces are on their way back. We left the defence towers there; the UNSC marine contingent is holding position, in case the Covenant comes back. All we need now is the coordinates for the planet Reach."

**Elsewhere, ONI prowler**

A figure stood on the bridge of the prowler; she observed the large ship in the distance. While she was grateful for the UNSC having such support, she wasn't confident that their allies would just "hand over" any information that they gathered. She knew that if what she had done was discovered, the nascent relationship that the two factions shared would become shaky, if not even crumble, very quickly. The lines of an ancient children's nursery rhyme came to mind "All the king's horses, and all the king's men, couldn't put humpty back together again." She turned to the holo tank beside her; a cloaked figure appeared "What do you have for me Beowulf?" The man smiled "Always a pleasure Captain Osman, not having to deal with Stanforth's unwillingness to get his hands dirty. I have the coordinates, and I deleted their copy." Osman smiled "Did they detect you?" Beowulf smiled "Detect? No. Did they know that they were robbed? Yes." Osman smiled again, a bone chilling smile that extended from ear to ear "Excellent."

**Port Hangar Bay, **_**Guardian**_

Nyles stood with the three other Mandalorians in the Hangar awaiting the return of the drop ships sent down to the surface of Sigma Octanus IV. Soon the angular MAAT series drop ships flew in through the Hangar Bay shield and touched down, their guttural engines dying down. The first legion to arrive was the 501st Captain Rex, Denal and ARC Squad 13 filed out of the Gunship. Behind them came three black boxes with a single blue stripe down the centre, five coffins for five dead soldiers. Rex walked up to them and saluted "It was like Umbara all over again, except we didn't lose that many. Fighting an army of "wets" is different from fighting a few leading clankers." Rex, head dropped lower, with the new equipment, many in the 501st felt invincible, losing five men was bad enough for Rex; he held himself personally responsible.

Jango put his hand on Rex's shoulder plate "Don't blame yourself, it's not your fault, we didn't know our enemy, and now we do. We'll make them pay ten times the price." Rex nodded "I know general, but, I can't help but feel I should've ordered them to withdraw earlier. I just…It's not the same losing them to these "Covenant" as it is to losing them to droids. When we fought the Separatists, we knew why we were fighting, when we are fighting here, we don't even know where here is! We don't know who the UNSC is, or why these aliens want to kill them, we have no reason to kill them, except that they want to kill us too now." Nyles understood what he meant, this was the UNSC's war, and Rex didn't understand why they were helping fight it. But perhaps they would get more clarity when they got to Reach; after all there was only time enough to exchange combat data, not anything else."

Jango nodded "I understand that, just know this, we are helping those who cannot help themselves, it's just like when we fought the Seppies, we fought them because the Republic could not fight them without us. Here we fight the Covenant because the UNSC will fall to the Covenant without us. I don't know who started it, but it looks to me that this was not war, it was galactic genocide. And if they want to enact genocide…" Rex picked up on what Jango was talking about "then they're going to have to go through us first! Thanks for the talk general, I needed that." Jango nodded "Anytime."

Nyles then waited for Sharp, soon enough the hulking Null-ARC stepped out of a grey MAAT/SOH matching the colour of his grey armor. "How'd it go for Shadow Company?" Sharp walked past him, stopping just a foot away from where Nyles stood "We lost two men. There goes our streak, and to think that the last time we lost a man was Umbara." Nyles nodded "It's not easy, I know." Sharp nodded "Yeah, well, it doesn't matter how easy it is, it's our job. The Covenant had better hope that they don't have to fight me anytime soon." With that Nyles watched as Sharp walked off, he knew it was no use trying to talk to him; he dealt with loss in such a different way. Nyles turned around and walked toward the Mag Train station.

**MAAT Gunship, en route to the UNSC **_**Leviathan**_

Kelly stood in the troop bay of the Republic drop ship. John had made sure that they all stayed back until the last drop ship departed to make sure that all personnel got off planet safely. She now stood waiting alongside Spartan Blue and Green Teams and the two Republic Commando squads. The two commando squads were now talking to each other with only Fred asking the one called Darman if he was okay after getting knocked into the wall by the Hunter. Kelly observed that while they seldom got along with other members of the UNSC armed forces they got along quite well with the commandos of both Omega and Delta squad. For a moment she thought that it was because of the fact that they were both Special Forces units, but she realised that they didn't get along well with either the ODSTs or the other NAVSPECWAR teams, something was different about these soldiers.

Kelly noticed while they joked around a lot, they certainly had the same discipline as both her and her fellow Spartans. They acted on instinct and everything about the way that they fought implied that they had been doing it for a very long time, yet they didn't show any signs of age. Whatever it was Kelly and the other Spartans quite liked the Commandos, evidenced by the radio conversation going on "So, those Commando guys, they're okay." said Fred. Linda threw in her opinion as well "They're good shots too." Kelly shook her head "Yeah, well I guess that counts, they're well trained too. And Niner seemed quite nice, Fi's funny too." John agreed "Something about them reminds me of us, before…" Kelly knew what he was talking about "Yeah…They sound pretty similar though, what's that about?" Fred shrugged "Beats me, voice filters?" John shrugged "Maybe…" To solve their doubts, as if on cue, the commandos one by one removed their helmets.

In front of them stood eight young men with tanned skin and black hair, all of their faces were identical. The one called Fi just seemed to notice the Spartans staring at them "Uh, well this is awkward…Damn, I guess we forgot that you guys aren't GAR." Fred looked at them "So, you guys are all brothers?" Kelly was shocked to see that their suspicions were correct "You're…Clones." Niner ran his hand through his hair "Seeing as you already know, I don't see a problem with confirming it. Yes, we're all clones; in fact the entire GAR is composed of Clones. You remember General Fett?" John nodded "Yes, he took over as ground commander from Commander Sharp." Niner continued "Well, we're all his clones." John nodded. Kelly now understood why they got along, most marines had no problem with fitting in, but Kelly knew that these clones had problems fitting in to society; they were withdrawn, only felt comfortable around each other. That was probably why they got along so well with her fellow Spartans, all they knew was combat, just like them, they were going to get along just fine.

Admiral Nyles waited looked at the Hologram of Admiral Stanforth "Admiral, we have received the coordinates, we'll be on our way, ETA four hours. Additionally since we will likely reach before you fleet, I suggest that you contact your Command Structure on Reach." Stanforth nodded "Already done, Admiral Nyles. See you on Reach." Nyles got on the comm to one of his Phalanx Frigates "Captain, have you received the coordinates?" the voice on the other end confirmed "Yes sir, according to the Navicomputer we have a six day ETA to Coruscant. We'll bring back reinforcements sir." Nyles nodded "Good man, make sure to bring back a shipyard, we'll be performing retrofits, but I want to help them progress more." The Clone in Navy Uniform in the Hologram nodded, and then it went off. Nyles watched as a lone Phalanx class frigate accelerated toward the system's edge before wavering in place then disappearing. Nyles turned to Blade "Activate the Hyperdrive, get us to Reach." Blade nodded and tapped some commands into his console. Nyles watched as the stars stretched before turning to the blue tunnel of the alternate dimension of Hyperspace.

Nyles watched as his ship came out of Hyperspace "This is Admiral Nyles to all Defender call signs, report." All ships began reporting in "This is Liberty, checking in. Gra'tua reporting in, all systems are active. Kandosii here, we're ready for orders Admiral." this continued until all the other ships reported in. Nyles looked at the planet in front of him, there were several installations in orbit; Nyles could make out what looked like Defence Stations, with a large mass driver mounted into them. There were also several installations that looked like shipyards with both complete and incomplete ships docked with them. Just then a man appeared on the Holoprojector, he had a shaven, polished head and a salt and pepper moustache "You must be Admiral Kote, I am Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb. On behalf of the UNSC I welcome you to Reach, and personally, I thank you for your assistance, we could have lost a lot more on Sigma Octanus IV. We would like to invite the Republic to join in an intelligence meet regarding the Covenant threat, transmitting coordinates."

Nyles, Fett, Kenobi, Skywalker, Skirata, Vau, Deviss and a bodyguard of ARC Squad 13, 14, Omega and Delta squads stood in the troop bay of a MAAT/SOH gunship headed toward the surface of the planet Reach. Nyles turned to Kenobi "So, Kenobi, what is it that we are going in to discuss?" the Jedi Master looked at him "Well, we are going in to discuss what our plans as allies are to be, other than that, I am not yet sure, your guess would be as good as mine." Nyles nodded, he activated his comm "Talon, what's our position?" the pilot activated the view screen in the cabin. Nyles looked at the view screen to see their four Void-class starfighter escorts joined by two large arrowhead shaped fighters; Nyles HUD designated them as GA-TL1 Longsword fighters. A voice crackled in his earpiece "Aurek 1-1, this is Knife 26, standby, we will escort you to ONI Sword base." Talons response came in through his helmet "Roger that Knife 26, Blackout lead get Blackout flight into secondary escort position."

Soon the Gunship flew in close toward the Cliffside landing pad that was the main landing pad for ONIs Sword base. Nyles knew that the part of it built into the mountain face was only a fraction of the base. Talon's voice crackled in his helmet "All right, last stop UNSC Office of Naval intelligence Sword base. Everyone watch your backs out there, spooks can't be trusted, but the Admiral already knows that, he is dating Agent Deviss after all." Agent Deviss gave a look directed at the cockpit that could have melted through the armor plating. Nyles just put his hand on her shoulder and walked her out through the door. As he stepped out of the Gunship Nyles noticed the ODSTs that lined either side of the walkway, their MA5B rifles held across their chests. Nyles looked at the far end of the platform; there stood VADM Danforth Whitcomb with several Spartans standing behind him.

Nyles walked next to Jango with Kenobi on Jango's left; behind them were Vau, Skirata and Skywalker. Agent Deviss, Sharp and Etain led the rest of the Clone detachment onward. VADM Whitcomb extended his hand to Jango "General Fett," then Nyles "Admiral Kote," and finally Kenobi "Master Kenobi, it's a pleasure to finally meet you." "No, the pleasure is indeed all ours." said Kenobi. Whitcomb ushered them forward "This way please, I'm sure that we have a lot to discuss." The Spartans let Whitcomb and the three Republic Officers cross before joining the line of people next to the Clones. Whitcomb led them to a large elevator where he placed his palm on a scanner and then a retinal scan. As he was doing so Nyles got the chance to observe the insides of the facility. The walls were a reflective white metal tile, but they bellied the true nature of the walls, scans indicated that the walls were heavily reinforced with Titanium plating and Concrete from the outside, the ceilings had heavy rebar supporting them. He also noticed that his HUD had highlighted several "hidden" turrets in the ceiling. Nyles then stepped into the elevator as it descended into the depths.

Nyles, Jango and Kenobi sat in front of a UNSC committee, composed of Admiral Margaret Parangosky, Colonel Ackerson, Captain Osman, Vice Admiral Whitcomb and a Dr Catherine Halsey. Whitcomb started "Well, I suppose it's time we told you how this war started." Jango nodded "Yes, it doesn't help us help you fight without knowing who exactly we are fighting and why." Whitcomb continued "We first encountered them over one of our colonies; Harvest. We attempted to contact them, only to have our ships attacked, only for them to send us the same message they sent you. They seem to be driven by some sort of religious purpose in their search for artefacts of a long dead alien race. So far we have gleaned little from such artefacts located on UNSC worlds…" Admiral Parangosky interrupted Whitcomb, fixing him with an icy cold glare "That is classified information _Vice_ Admiral."

Nyles didn't understand why they would hide information "Admiral Parangosky, any information that you withhold gives the Covenant an advantage. In fact our AI has revealed that the data from the Covenant ship led to an alien installation. He estimates that it leads to a star system with no known planets or planetoids, based on probe data." lied Nyles, he wasn't about to tell them the truth about the situation. Captain Osman's face turned white "An AI?" Osman realised the mistake that they had made.

Nyles began to get suspicious "Correct, to aid navigation and weapon system targeting. If I am not wrong the UNSC employs the use of AIs as well, or at least that was what Admiral Stanforth had led me to believe." Admiral Parangosky answered him "Of course, you'll have to forgive my protégé, she is fascinated by artificial intelligence, and given how advanced your star ships are, your artificial intelligence must be far more so." Nyles nodded "Of course, however, our star ships and weapons are our speciality; medical sciences are advanced as well, nothing on the level of yours of course; seeing the Spartans in action was something else." Nyles and Jango turned toward Halsey who smiled and cleared her throat prompting Whitcomb to introduce her "Dr Halsey pioneered the Spartan project, their armor and their enhancements are all her brainchild." Nyles nodded "Of course, I would certainly like to extend help in modifying Spartan equipment with our technology." Halsey smiled "I look forward to working with you Admiral." Jango shook his head "You Gotabors (Scientists, literally engineer) can figure that out later, what we need now is a war plan."

Nyles couldn't help but notice that both Colonel Ackerson and Admiral Parangosky were glaring at him, he however, dismissed it. Whitcomb addressed Jango's concern "From what we ascertained about the Covenant, they have a central leadership that they refer to as the 'Prophets'." A picture of the Prophets appeared on a wall, causing Jango to scowl "Doesn't look like it can command much respect, the other races, especially those Elites look like more likely leaders." Halsey corrected him "The Elites are the military leadership General Fett, while the Prophets are the religious and political leadership; The Elites answer to them, for reasons unknown to us." Jango nodded "And it doesn't matter, but what are you getting at?" Halsey looked at Whitcomb, who nodded in response, and then continued speaking "There was a plan, which many at ONI deemed foolhardy, to capture the Covenant leadership and end this war…" Jango interrupted her "They don't seem like the kind to make deals." "No, they do not General, but you certainly cannot hope to fight the entire armada with little more than seven ships." Nyles smiled "Dr, Captain, Admirals, indeed we certainly do not hope to, which is why we sent for reinforcements."

Admiral Parangosky frowned "I was wondering where that ship went to, so it went back to your home world. Speaking of which, where is your home world?" Jango was at this time quite exasperated "So far all I heard was a half-hearted plan to capture their leadership and a million kriffing questions about us." Parangosky defended herself "Well, considering we don't know much about you and you much about us, prior to any war plans, we should discuss each other." Jango shook his head "You're talking to the wrong people, Nyles and I am here to discuss battle plans. Chat with our protocol droid later if you want culture." Nyles put his hand on Jango's shoulder "What Jango means to say is that battle plans and transfer of Intel and technology are far more pressing matters." Parangosky placed her arms on her hand rest before folding them together; careful observation indicated a smirk on her face "Of course."

Halsey continued "I see how that plan may not work, but you had mentioned that you had retrieved coordinates from the Covenant Stealth Corvette." Nyles nodded "Correct, I recommend that we investigate immediately. The Guardian will stay here on Reach to assist with the retrofits and upgrades as well as to defend in the event of a Covenant attack. A smaller fleet comprised of a Liberty-class and two Nebula-class ships will investigate along with any forces that the UNSC are willing to send." Whitcomb nodded "That appears to be a wise plan; we will ready a team to head out with your ships." Nyles nodded "Due to the lack of intelligence, may I suggest retrofitting of whatever equipment that the UNSC wishes to dispatch?" Whitcomb looked toward Halsey, who nodded and then turned back toward Nyles "Very well, this meeting is hereby concluded."

Nyles walked with Halsey through the reactor chamber, the Hyper matter reactor sealed behind layers of armor plating "So this plating is so that the reactor is safe from damage during battle, that's impressive, how do you handle the heat, oh I see the cooling system is efficient enough to not need additional air cooling as well." Nyles stood beside her with his arms folded, her two Spartan bodyguards stood with Commander Sharp at the entrance. Halsey took another sip of her cup of caf "This is better than coffee, hmm. I have to get some of this." Nyles nodded "I'd be glad to, but you see, I can outfit UNSC ships with these reactors, if of course HIGHCOM will let me set up an orbital hyper matter facility." Halsey nodded "HIGHCOM is worried about guarding it." Nyles scoffed "Who said anything about it needing protection, the facility will use some of the Hyper matter it produces to power its own reactor, which powers its own weapons and shields. Several Octuple Heavy Disruptors will give the Covenant something to think about." Halsey eyes went wide, having been briefed about the weapon systems, she knew what Disruptors were capable of. Nyles continued "Here I have everything that I can do for the UNSC without an my reinforcements in this report." He said, handing her a datapad. Halsey looked it over then turned to him "What exactly _do _you need to start producing the ships we discussed earlier?" Nyles smiled "A Mark-II XQ10 orbital shipyard, it has a molecular furnace and fabricator that outmatches the one on this ship." Halsey's jaw dropped, albeit briefly "Very well, I will convince those at HIGHCOM who are, wary, of the benefits of this plan."

As she sat on the Pelican that took her back to her office at Sword Base she looked at the datapad itself, she could tell that it had greater processing power than her own, but it had the same functions, it was obvious that their software did not take advantage of their hardware. She opened the report and read its contents:

**Infantry Weapons:**

**Marine and Army**

FA-3 Flechette Launcher: The FA-3 isn't much in use amongst our troops; they see little use for a scattergun or what you call a "shotgun". However given how popular they are amongst both the UNSC Marines and Army, I have arranged for some to be delivered for use. The FA-3 comes with a 16 round magazine.

PX-15A Rifle: The 15A is a long ranged battle rifle that will serve as designated marksman's rifle as well. It has a range of over 800m on the lowest power setting. I recommend training users in the variable power settings for increased or decreased ranges and stopping power, at the trade-off of rate of fire and shots per magazine.

Accessories:

-Under barrel Single shot grenade launcher

-Bipod

-Grappling Hook Launcher (with inbuilt winch)

-4.5x Magnification Sight

-Holographic Sight

PX-15S Carbine: The carbine variant of the 15A it lacks adjustable power settings and has a far shorter range, only around 400m but is far shorter and has a higher rate of fire.

Accessories:

-Grappling Hook Launcher (with inbuilt winch)

-Holographic Sight

PX-17 Hand Blaster: Standard handgun, packs a huge punch, quite like the M6 series, similar range.

PLEX-4A Launcher: Like the Jackhammer launcher its fires a high explosive warhead, tracks targets all targets. Each pack carries four rockets.

PX-15 SRS: Highly accurate sniper rifle system, range of over 2.5 Kilometres. Tests indicate they disable Elite personal energy shields in a single shot.

Accessories:

-Bipod

RPX-4: Proton grenade, like a frag, just no shrapnel, same damage. Has a 9 metres blast radius.

**ODST**

Westar M6 Variable Weapon System: The Westar M6 is a unique weapons system. It can transform itself with a simple barrel change; Anti-Armor, Sniper and Standard, even a non-lethal setting. This allows ODSTs to carry more ammo, the sniper and rifle mode share the same power pack while the anti-armor mode requires warheads to be carried separately.

Accessories (For the Standard Mode):

-4.5x Magnification Sight

-Holographic Sight

Z-7 Rotary Plasma Cannon: Man portable plasma cannon, high rate of fire and surprisingly accurate. The Z-7 Rotary Plasma Cannon is the choice of a lot of teams who need the portable firepower, and don't mind the weight.

PX-20 Plasma Repeater: Lighter variant of the Z-7, packs less of a punch and has a smaller range all in a rifle sized package. Teams who need heavy firepower but can't afford to weigh themselves down with the Z-7 use the PX-22

Accessories:

-Bipod

-4.5x Zoom Smart Linked Scope

-Holographic Sights

PLEX-6D: A lighter version of the PLEX-4A, it comes with a higher yield, faster warhead but at the cost of only one per pack.

Westar M8 PDW: Fast firing, accurate and packs a big punch, the only downside of the M8 is its short range relegating it for use as a PDW. It also has an integrated collapsible holographic scope, made it very popular with Naval personnel who did not have helmets.

FA-3 Flechette Launcher

Arakyd Industries Multi Ordinance Grenade Launcher: The launcher comes with a variety of ammunition types and a twenty round rotating magazine. It can integrate with the user's helmet systems to provide the best detonation; either airburst or on impact.

Accessories:

-Bipod

-Canister shell (For grenadiers who don't want to carry a scattergun/shotgun)

-High Explosive Armor Piercing Anti Armor

-High Explosive Anti-Personnel (Higher blast radius, lower yield than the Anti-Armor variant)

-Standard Round (Safe for use indoors)

Verpine Shatter Rifle – Mark III:

DX-22 SRS: The DX-22 Disruptor is a semi-automatic rifle with a 16 round power pack capable of putting down an Elite in a shot. Its range is in the excess of 3 kilometres.

Accessories:

-Bipod

RBX-6: Thermal Detonator, variable explosive radius.

Reverse-Polarity Grenade: Basic EMP grenade, don't worry about frying my guns, their all EMP hardened

**Spartan**

Arakyd Industries Multi Ordinance Grenade Launcher

DX-16 Disruptor Battle Rifle: With a 32 round power pack and a max range of 1.2 kilometres, it is the definition of a designated marksman's rifle, functioning as a battle rifle as well with a select fire mode that causes the accuracy and effective range to drop to 800 metres.

Accessories:

-Bipod

-Under barrel Magazine fed Grenade launcher with support for all Grenades used by the Arakyd MOGL

-4.5x Zoom Smart Linked Scope

-Holographic Scope

Westar M7 Plasma Rifle: The choice of most Advanced Reconnaissance Commandos, this rifle is mid ranged weapon that delivers high powered bolts with reasonable accuracy. Great for both close and medium range engagements, it comes with a 40 round power pack and fits a range of accessories.

Accessories:

-Bipod

-Under barrel Magazine fed Grenade launcher with support for all Grenades used by the Arakyd MOGL

-4.5x Zoom Smart Linked Scope

-Holographic Sights

Z-8 Rotary Disruptor Cannon: Exactly liked the Z-7 except that it fires its higher powered disruptor bolts at a lower rate, but with better range. Given the increased weight of the weapon, it is only recommended for use by the Spartans.

M-2 MPAC: Initial attempts at miniaturizing the MPAC cannon used by our star ships resulted in heavy weapons that were not effective for our purposes. The increased strengths of the Spartans however let them use the M-2 MPAC with ease. With a power pack that can put 40 rounds down range and two fire settings (Burst, like a scattergun/shotgun and a stronger single shot mode) it is indeed and effective weapon.

Accessories:

\- Holographic Sights

Verpine Shatter Rifle – Mark III: Like the M99 Gauss rifle previously fielded by the UNSC the VSR uses the similar principles, but has a far better range of up to 4 kilometres. It packs a punch big enough to go through two Elite with their shields up, and then collapse the shields of a third.

Accessories:

-Bipod

DX-20 Disruptor Repeater: Like the Plasma based weapon of the same name, the DX-20 is for those soldiers who want portable firepower in a rifle sized package.

Accessories:

-Bipod

-4.5x Zoom Smart Linked Scope

-Holographic Sights

PLEX-6D

DX-22 SRS

RBX-6: Thermal Detonator, variable explosive radius.

Reverse-Polarity Grenade: Basic EMP grenade, don't worry about frying my guns, their all EMP hardened

**Infantry Equipment and Armor:**

**Marine and Army: **

Armor: Having seen the equipment that the UNSC marines have to deal with makes me wonder whether UNSC HIGHCOM understands that they are fighting an enemy that is superior to them or whether they think that they are still fighting the Insurrectionists.

-Upgraded Marine Armor: I found some old schematics for Marine Armor that were apparently discarded by HIGHCOM deemed "unnecessary". I have used these schematics and replaced the plates with lightweight Plasteel plates, as well as a fully enclosed helmet with upgraded sensors and HUD that will integrate with weapons that we have supplied.

**ODST: **ODST armor has been upgraded with Duranium plating that will give them far better survivability as well as a shield generator that will block up to ten plasma bolts. Their VISOR system has been upgraded to work with all weapons that I have supplied as well as the combined UNSC/GAR database of Covenant weapons. It also features an integrated laser designator and advanced communication systems that can reach anything from a warship in orbit to a command centre miles away, even allowing video images to be relayed back. They also feature variable equipment based on role:

-Sniper: Rangefinder and recoil stabiliser servos in the arm portion of the armor.

-Heavy Weapons/Explosives Expert: Extra armouring and allows detonation signal to be sent straight from their armor systems, forgoing the need of a detonator.

-Squad Leader: Features advanced targeting systems to allow them to easily assign targets to their squad mates as well as in helmet video feed of what each squad mate sees.

**P.S: Thanks for those Schematics of the ODST armor and those older UNSC records, the Marines on the Spirit of Fire were surprisingly well outfitted. **

**Spartan: **I replaced the plating on the suits that you gave me with Mandalorian Iron, and the bodysuit with a carbon nano-tube version of the same, that's really inspired by what you did with the original bodysuit. I didn't do much else except replace the Fusion pack with a miniature hyper matter reactor and a better shield generator, like what my ARCs and Commandos use. Additionally I added on slots and systems compatibility for the same wrist gauntlet attachments that my ARCs use; flamethrowers anyone? Okay I guess I really did replace a lot, you can thank me later, by taking the ones that I have sitting in my cargo bay ready for your Spartans to use.

**Ground Vehicles**

**AV-23 Sparrowhawk: **Despite the UNSC's decision to withdraw the AV-22 from service, I can gauge that it is far better than the one that replaced it, the AV-14. The problems with the AV-22 have been fixed with the AV-23. The Ducted Fan system has been removed, it instead takes to the skies using anti-gravity repulsors and the same engines that the Republic's MAAT gunships use. Its armor plating has been replaced with Duranium plating and it has been fitted with a shield generator, almost doubling its survivability. Its Dual Autocannons have been replaced with Dual Double Barrelled Medium Plasma Hybrid Laser autocannons and it has been outfitted with all aspect Baradium missiles.

**AC-222: **When I saw the schematics for the Vulture, I was half tempted to develop one for the Republic, and then I remembered we had frigates for CAS. But in any case the Vulture has been modernised. Directed-thrust jets have been replaced with Repulsor engines and the Autocannons with Heavy Plasma Hybrid Laser autocannons. The Argent-Vs have been replaced with all aspect Baradium missiles while the A-74s have been replaced with RG-22 anti-tank missiles. No shields were installed; the armor plating and the power drain of the repulsors that are required to keep this behemoth in the air are to blame.

**D79 Pelican: **I intended the Pelican to function more like the MAAT, so we redesigned it from the ground up. It features repulsors, two nose mounted Medium Plasma Hybrid Laser Autocannons, two all aspect Baradium missile pods and a troop carrying capacity of 20. It also fields a shield generator similar to the one on the Sparrowhawk. I also made sure to include differing variants:

Gunship: Carrying more weapons than a sparrow hawk but less than a vulture it is designed for situations when a Vulture is not available. Carrying four Medium Plasma Autocannons in the nose turret and two more all aspect Baradium missile pods it is a mean machine.

Stealth: Similar to the stock D79, it is a faster craft with an active camouflage system, designed for use by Special Forces units.

Stealth/Gunship: A mix of the above two, a gift from me to the Spartans.

**M13 Warthog: **The M13 adds armoured doors and a roof, even moving the turret onto the roof and enclosing the rear. The turret is then controlled remotely from the inside. This increases survivability as well as Troop carrying capacity.

Variants:

-Light Reconnaissance Vehicle: Fitted with a Medium Plasma Hybrid Repeater, it is far more effective the M41 LAAG on the M12.

-Light Anti-Armor Vehicle: Fitted with a Plasma Accelerator Cannon, it beats the M68 Gauss Cannon any time, with higher penetration, velocity and range. It is accelerator plasma after all.

\- Light Anti-Air Vehicle: Fitted with two all aspect Baradium missile pods. The Light Anti-Air Vehicle can provide artillery or anti-air support.

**M90A Scorpion: **The original M80B Scorpion was a joke. When my engineers looked at it, I had to put one in the med bay for tripping over a cable conduit and breaking his arm while he was in a laughing fit. While it might still be able to destroy Covenant vehicles it is largely under-armoured, under-armed and by Republic standards, lacking. The modifications take into account the advice of a "Sergeant John Forge" and include a 105mm Plasma Accelerator Cannon, a coaxially mounted medium plasma hybrid repeated, dual grenade launchers and a remote operated dual medium plasma repeater. Armor plating has been replaced with Duranium plating and the engine replaced with the same engine that we use on our MBT.

**M9 Wolverine: **The M9 Wolverine's halftrack resign has been replaced with repulsor pods, giving it faster movement speed. The targeting systems were overhauled and replaced, the MRLS system was replaced with one of our own as with the grenade launchers. It was also given a shield generator, and the titanium plate was replaced with Duranium. While it has shields its armor is not that thick, it relies on the shields to protect it.

**SP42 Cobra: **The Cobra was a vehicle that took my engineers and I the longest to upgrade. Its rail cannon design was amazing, a cannon that can switch between firing lower calibre rounds faster and higher calibre rounds slower has never been done. So after copious amounts of Caf, we designed the Alternator-class Plasma accelerator cannon which like the Rail Cannon it replaced shifts from a dual 35mm Plasma Accelerator Cannon to a 120mm Plasma Accelerator Cannon. As a result its armor was skimped on and a shield generator was added. When in "lockdown mode" to fire its 120mm cannon its shield strength doubles.

**Starship**

While it's easy for us to produce new ground units, producing new star ships is far harder. Without the arrival of my reinforcements, I can't do anything, though I can retrofit all available UNSC ships to an extent.

**Mark III Magnetic Accelerator Cannon: **The Capacitors and coils that are used in UNSC MACs, while almost peak are not yet at their peak. So referencing the newer MAC design that you provided we were able to modify the weapon. The new Mark IIIs are capable of firing three rounds and recharging in less than half the time.

**Mark III Magnetic Accelerator Cannon – Light: **Due to the size of UNSC Frigates we were unable to replicate the fire rate on other ships, however the recharge time and stopping power is the same as the heavier variant.

**Charon-class Light Frigate: **All of the armor plating was replaced with Duranium plating. A hyper matter reactor was added. The Charon-class Frigate sports the Mark III MAC – Light variant like all UNSC Frigates and has had her Archer missile pods replaced with RSB-120 Baradium ship to ship missiles. The 50mm PDGs were replaced with Medium Plasma Hybrid Laser Cannons. The biggest improvement was the addition of the Phalanx-class shield generator, giving them better survivability whether dropping off ground troops or participating in fleet engagements.

**Paris-class Heavy Frigate: **As with the Charon-class the Paris-class has a new reactor, armor plating, main gun, missile systems, point defence and the addition of a Phalanx shield generator.

**Lancer-class Destroyers: **Destroyers will have all their armor plating replaced with Duranium plating making them so heavily armoured that they are more as heavily armoured as a Nebula-class Cruiser, unfortunately they also lack shield generators due to a lack of space to mount them. Their MACs have been replaced with the newer model, their missiles with the RSB-120s and their point defence guns with Heavy Plasma Hybrid Cannons.

**Marathon-class Heavy Cruiser: **Due to the similarities of the armaments on this ship and on a destroyer, the refits will be essentially the same, varying in only number. Recommend that the Fusion rockets with Shiva-class Nuclear Missiles. The Hyper matter reactor on this ship will be more efficient than the one on other UNSC ships allowing the Phalanx shield generator to be far more effective.

**Halcyon-class Battle Cruiser: **When I saw what you had wanted to do to the aging Halcyon-class, I decided to go several steps further. I decided to throw in another MAC Cannon, how I did is immaterial in this report. The Archer missile pods, like in all other ships have been replaced with RSB-120 Baradium ship to ship missiles. The 50mm PDGs were replaced with Medium Plasma Hybrid Laser Cannons. It also has the same hyper matter reactor used on the Marathon-class but a better shield generator.

**Unfortunately even doing this will overwork my teams and I will be unable to refit any more ships, however I feel that UNSC single ships are effective enough against the Covenant and UNSC Carriers and Super carriers are too rare to make a difference. **

**Medical**

**Bacta:** Now, we don't have unlimited supplies, but when reinforcements come we'll have a lot more to go around, but we'll start sharing some anyway. It heals minor wounds almost instantly and major ones very quickly.

**Advanced Surgical Equipment:** Once you approve, and HIGHCOM agrees, I'll get our medics and surgeons to start training yours, I expect you to prioritize military use first. These range from Nerve splicers, Synth-Flesh, Automated Medical Chambers and so on. I can't elaborate on medical equipment; I'm no doctor

**P.S: I am glad though you came clean about your Spartans, and the **_**other **_** Spartans, my medical team has already gone over your procedures and they can help those who didn't make it through the procedures, they'll be back to being Spartans in no time. Also they've got some ideas about how to make the procedures safer for Adult volunteers and also widen the candidate pool, but I am making them make sure that they're sure, if that made any sense. **

Doctor Catherine Halsey smiled as she finished reading the report, convincing HIGHCOM would be easy, in fact they would probably be begging her to start the process. She turned the Datapad off and drifted off to sleep, she hadn't slept in days with all the excitement and she had a feeling that it wasn't over.

**Three Days Later…**

Nyles stood in the Hangar watching large UNSC Albatross Dropships stream into the Hangar. They were assembled in two rows, those waiting to drop of cargo and those waiting to pick it up. Nyles watched with Blade standing beside him as the UNSC dropped off older vehicles and other scrap to be fed to the Guardian's molecular furnace. Meanwhile scores of newer improved ones were being picked up as well. Nyles watched as four improved M90A Scorpions were ferried beside him on huge repulsor sleds, behind them a AC-222 Gunship was draw forward on another Repulsor sled. Looking out the Hangar shield doors he could see two frigates and destroyer docked with the repair section of the Hangar, new sections of Duranium plating being welded one of the frigates and a Destroyer. He could see the core of a hyper matter reactor being moved into place in the second frigate. The UNSC was about to become a foe to be reckoned with, the Covenant should be scared.

**A/N: So that's it, retro-fits. Neither the UNSC nor the Republic has sent any fleets to Installation 04 yet, but that will come soon. Any questions should either be in reviews or PMs and please feel free to do either. I think this is the longest chapter I have written and I dearly hope that you guys enjoyed reading it. Till next time…**


	9. Chapter 7: Upgrades in the Flesh

Chapter 7 – Upgrades in the flesh

Nyles stood on the deck of the newly upgraded battle cruiser _The Pillar of Autumn._ Beside him stood Dr Halsey and on the other side was Null-ARC Commander Sharp and the rest of his squad. In front of them were the entirety of the Spartan IIs save for Spartan Grey Team, and a group of the Spartan IIIs. The plan was for the UNSC to explore the coordinates with a single Nebula-Class Cruiser providing support if needed. Doing this accomplished two things; One, it helped the UNSC become more independent, and the other was that it would ease UNSC HIGHCOM's reservations about the Republic. If they thought however that they could however turn on them at any point then they were severely mistaken, their targeting systems were modified to accept Republic FOF tags, and by the time they got their AIs to overwrite it, he could turn their ships to slag, though he dearly wished he didn't have to do that.

Right now he was giving a demonstration of the new tech that he was going to issue to the Spartans, he had to head two decks below in an hour to do the same for the ODSTs; his schedule was quite packed. Laid out in front of him were all the weapons that they were going to use, unfortunately for him, he was going to have to present the vehicles two hours from now, to the Marines, ODSTs and the Spartans. Nyles had heard about the ODST-Spartan rivalry, and to him, it rivalled the Null-Alpha ARC Rivalry, and there were more of both the ODSTs and the Spartans.

Halsey looked at him once, he nodded back and then she began the introductions "Spartans, as you have all been briefed about your next mission, I will skip straight ahead to the introductions. This is Republic Admiral Nyles Kote, the Republic has been nice enough to upgrade you gear, this is more than what I had hope MJOLNIR will be, your currents suits are less than shells of what this armor is capable of. A new shipment of weapons, also provided by the Republic, will be demoed by the Admiral and his men. Don't forget to make it for the vehicle showcase at 16:00 hours, alright; I will let the Admiral begin."

Nyles stepped forward, there were five suits of armor on the stands in front of him; Recon, CQB, EOD, EVA and Standard. "Spartans, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting any of you in person, but let me say that this is the finest armor that you will have put on. We worked very closely with Dr Halsey when developing this armor, she has informed me about each and every one of your suggestions and preferences, and rest assured that they have all been included into the armor, along with some of our own touches. The first thing that I want to talk about, but I know won't matter to most of you is the new reactor, a larger, more powerful version of what my troops carry, this is what will power your suits. It can power them for the next 30 years, if you treat them well, and are responsible for providing power for most of the suits functions. The standard armor comes with advanced energy shielding; you can expect to survive a hit from a particle beam rifle, additionally Dr Halsey made me add something in last minute, it can now shape itself into things like aerofoils, no need for re-entry packs, that and just to be safe I added actual aerofoils." This last part elicited laughter from some of the Spartans, while the rest stayed stoically silent.

"Right, moving on; you shields have three modes: Regular, Assault and Stealth. I think the first speaks for itself, the second will overcharge your shields, but be aware; this will prevent the use of some other features, such as your wrist attachments and ion thrusters. Stealth will make you invisible to all but the most advanced sensors, and the naked eye of course, and feel free to fire a weapon, the cloak will compensate." Nyles looked to see a hand raised, the man had brown hair and pale skin; his uniform read John-117 "Yes Master Chief?" the man continued "Sir, does this apply to Covenant weapons?" Nyles smiled "Good question, if your gauntlet is in one piece, then the cloak will scan the weapon and compensate." The Chief nodded

"Alright, next are the ion thrusters; they will function in atmosphere and in space, although in atmosphere you will get a max flight time of up to 10 minutes. Yes, this means that the armor is vacuum sealed for up to 12 hours, after that your oxygen will run dry and running out of air is generally bad for you." This elicited more laughter from his audience; Nyles always did like to make his audience laugh, it showed that they weren't bored to death. "Your bio foam injectors have been supplemented with what the Bacta Injectors, it's a lot more effective at healing. While bio foam will keep your insides well, inside, the bacta will heal you up. Given how fast you heal, the Bacta is bound to be about three times more effective on you." Another hand shot up, it belonged to a Joshua-029 "Sir?" Nyles acknowledged him "Yes…" the man asked his question "Will the "bacta" engage at the same time as the bio foam?" Nyles nodded "Yes, this will mean that you can keep fighting without having to see a medic later, given time, your body will heal itself from all but the most critical of injuries, like a case of gaping hole where your head should be, and I hear that's fatal 100% of the time."

"Moving on to your plating and bodysuit, the plating has been replaced with Duranium coated with Mandalorian Iron, which is a lot stronger than Titanium, around three times if I'm not wrong, additionally Elites are going to have a problem using their energy swords on you, but don't expect to be invincible, they can still attack your joints without problems, it's only the limbs, chest and head itself that is safe. Plating coverage has also been increased, and now extends to the joints without compromising mobility, rest assured Spartan-087, you'll retain your top speed, even improve it with some of the other improvements. The bodysuit is exactly like your old one, what little of it is exposed will disperse the plasma, given that is made out of Duranium, means it will heat up far slower than your old one, and the new cooling system and its ability to disperse plasma means that it should be far more effective against Covenant Plasma weaponry. Your gauntlets also now come with integrated vibro knives that can block Energy Blades used by the Elites. I also added in wrist attachments, they come in several flavours, including: Plasma Caster with both precision beam mode and wide cast, grappling hook, miniature rocket launcher, stun prod, and wrist mounted hybrid blaster, in case you run out of ammo, you can thank me later. The Force-Multiplying Circuits, Reactive circuits and Metal Crystal Layer haven't changed much either, they are only around 0.25% more effective, but I know you can use even those odds to your advantage.

"I finish with the Helmet system; It has everything your old helmet had, but includes improved thermal, motion, filters, also any AI you install will have use of emergency data storage units. I have also installed a new "flash" system that will overload most Elite Active camouflage systems, but be aware, any Spartans in the area will also have their cloak systems disabled. Last but not least, the ability to interface with any UNSC, Republic or known Covenant vehicles, you get in it, and you'll be flying in no time, this also means that calling in artillery or air support will no longer require the use of external designators. And that concludes the standard variant; the EVA will have better ION thrusters and better mobility, the CQB has better mobility for close combat, but at reduced arm protection, EOD has stronger shielding and extra plating at the cost of reduced mobility, Recon has better stealth capabilities, as well as better target acquisition capabilities, especially at long ranges. Scout is just like Recon, but has better mobility, while Recon has better durability. And with that I conclude my extremely long presentation on the MJOLNIR Mark VI Mod II armor system, and declare that there be a 10 minute caff or Sapir tea break, or a 'whatever it is that you drink' break, because I am not starting weapons presentation without one."

Nyles walked up to the Caf machine joined by Halsey he put his cup underneath the tap causing it to dispense the black liquid, Nyles took a deep breath, finding himself instantly refreshed by the aroma. He took a sip and turned around to find another red headed Spartan pouring herself some of the Sapir tea, the name on her uniform read Linda-058. "Spartan-058, if you want, that's all yours." She looked shocked "Sir, I can't do that!" he nodded "Yes you can, when someone gives you a gift, just take it Spartan. Besides General Kenobi has enough to last him for the next year or so, besides we have a matter fabricator for that, go ahead." The Spartan nodded "Thank you sir." He nodded back at her. Halsey walked up behind him "You're spoiling my Spartans admiral, almost like you have a soft spot for them." Nyles shook his head "No, I'm just trying to help, after all they have been through, they deserve something nice." Halsey simply nodded in response.

Soon enough Nyles was walking to the ODST deck to present the ODST Battle Armor Mk II, he was met with a large collection of soldiers in front of them stood a man of Hispanic descent; his uniform indicated that he was a major. As Nyles and his squad of Clones walked in he barked out "Officer on Deck!" All the ODSTs jumped to attention. Nyles didn't expect this from them; technically he wasn't their commanding officer. Nyles was however technically of a higher rank, not that he cared for the technicalities "At ease. Major, I hope you and your men are ready for some new toys." The Major smiled "It's like its Christmas already, sir yes sir, we are ready, isn't that right marines?" the whole group called out "Sir, yes sir." Nyles smiled "Then let's get started."

Nyles gestured to the ODST armor on the mannequin behind him "This is the standard version of the new ODST battle armor. What's different? For starters your new armor plates are about two times stronger than your old ones. Your VISR system has been upgraded, it now integrates with every weapon that you pick up, allowing you to change modes on your new weapons with a blink. Also, it now features an improved comm module, no more need for designators, need an airstrike? Look and call it in, that's all. Command wants to see what you see, no need for mission recorders, just activate and continue. Additionally, there are several new variants: Sniper, which has a rangefinder and recoil stabiliser servos in the arm portion of the armor. Heavy weapons/ Explosives: Has extra armor and an inbuilt detonator that is able to interface with all transmitters. Recon: Which is issued for stealth ops and finally Squad Leader; which is got extra plating and advanced targeting and heavily encrypted communications systems as well as an in helmet video feed of other squad mates." Silva walked up to Nyles and shook his hand "Sir, I think you and I are going to get along very well." Nyles smiled, but in truth Silva was not a man he wanted to deal with, his hatred for the Spartans was legendary, he just hoped that they wouldn't tear the ship apart.

Nyles was then left with the fighter jockeys and dropship / gunship pilots; the Pillar of Autumn's hangar was not that much different from most Republic hangars post modification, with separate areas for maintenance and storage of fighters and dropships. Amongst the marine and navy pilots were a couple of Spartans, Nyles guessed that they were the team's designated pilots, but he then noticed that they were all Spartan IIIs. Nyles paid them no more regard and then moved on stopping at the UNSC AV-23 Sparrowhawk. "In the Mk II, the original Sparrowhawk's ducted fan engines have been replaced with Repulsors, making sure that as long as you have power, you'll stay in the air. Your main engines ensure that you can operate in space as well, but pilots will do well to remember their role in combat. Your missiles pack a significantly higher punch; please don't go buck wild on Covenant armor. Your main guns high calibre plasma hybrid cannons; they pack a huge punch as well, falling short of only your missiles, so they should do the job most of the time. The M6 nose cannon has been replaced by a 75mm plasma accelerator cannon, it's like the M6, except it recharges faster. A shield generator has been added as well, now the AAA variant of the shade is less of a problem, more of an annoyance, but remember that large Covenant AAA guns will drop your shields, as will sustained fire." He saw a few pilots move closer to the craft in appreciation; he tapped a button on his wrist comm, causing the canopy to open "Feel free to take her out for a spin boys."

The next vehicle that he stopped at was the AC-222 Vulture Mk II. The mere sight of it caused most of the pilots to gawk and stare. Nyles decided to listen to some of the comments before starting his presentation "Wow, they brought the Vulture back!" said one "Look at its new teeth!" exclaimed another "How'd they sort out the production costs?" and so on. Nyles interrupted them "The AC-222 Vulture Mk II has had its directed thrust engines replaced with Repulsors, making it considerably more manoeuvrable, although she does slide a bit much now. The new guns are Heavy Plasma Hybrid Lasers, and they tear through armor like knife through hot butter. If the original Vulture was a problem for the Covenant Scarab, this is a nightmare. The new all aspect missiles will pull a Spirit down in a single hit, a Phantom in two. A Salvo of twelve of the anti-armor missiles _will_ destroy a Covenant Scarab. And I personally guarantee that four of these gunships have enough firepower to put a Covenant Light Corvette out of action. However there are no shields, but the new Duranium plating should suffice, just don't go and fly underneath an energy projector."

The third atmospheric vehicle, or rather set of three vehicles that the group stopped at was the D79 series of Pelican dropships. "All right, now Captain Rawley, I know you are going to thank me for this, so let me begin. This is the D79 Pelican dropship, it has Repulsors, two nose mounted Medium Plasma Hybrid Laser Autocannons, two all aspect Baradium missile pods and a troop carrying capacity of 20, which can be improved with a troop pod. Also you can now carry vehicles without worrying about manoeuvrability, your repulsors will compensate for everything up to a Scorpion Tank. You also now have a shield generator, so don't worry about those pesky banshees. The cabin also has a plasma repeater mounted on the interior, to ward off any unwelcome visitors. There are also several variants which have been included in your brief. Immediately, Carol "Foehammer" Rawley walked up to one of the D79s and gingerly planted a kiss on the cockpit "Don't worry baby, momma's got you now."

The second last craft on the tour was the modified YSS-110 Sabre. The Spartans that were following Nyles looked highly impressed with the craft. Nyles finally understood that they were Sabre pilots, Halsey had told him about Spartans being test pilots for the initial Sabre model. "Alright pilots, this is essentially the Sabre you know and love, but we made a lot of changes. The engines are now good enough to get you into atmosphere without the need for booster rockets and the shields have been immensely improved. Titanium armor has been replaced with stronger Duranium armor, and the fragile thrust manifolds have been armoured as well. We have added two Heavy Plasma Hybrid Laser Autocannons, and four Baradium missile pods. Also mounted underneath is a 90mm plasma accelerator cannon, for entrenched enemies or simply those with an inflated opinion of themselves, enjoy."

The last two fighters were the GAT-14F Longsword Fighter and the GAT-14B Longsword Strike Fighter/Bomber. "All right fighter jockeys, you may not recognise your fighters and that's because some of them are bombers. Both variants include shield generators, and Quad Heavy Plasma Laser Hybrid Autocannons. However the Fighter Variant has a single 105 mm Plasma accelerator cannon and two anti-fighter Baradium missile pods, the Bomber has dual 120 mm Plasma accelerator cannons and three anti-ship Baradium missile pods. If you work in tandem with the Sabre interceptors, you will be a nightmare for any Covenant ship and any escorting fighters." A female pilot looked at Nyles "Thanks sir, this should give us a one up on those Seraphs." Nyles nodded "You know, I was once a fighter jock too, top of my class, I know just what we all want. Treat my birds well pilot, they're yours now."

Captain Keyes piloted the shuttle pod around the dock, despite the Admiral's insistence that he chauffer Keyes, he didn't want to be ferried by a senior officer, whether part of UNSC command structure or not. While he appreciated the Admiral's somewhat lax outlook on military protocol, it was not something that he could do. He piloted the shuttle pod toward the coordinates where the Autumn was said to be docked. Keyes had little respect for the Halcyon-class cruisers, they were said to be under-armoured and under-armed, but the ship that was in front of him didn't look like any ship of any class that he had seen. Instead of the lighter grey seen on most UNSC warships, this was a dark grey, almost black in colour. It was also far larger; it was around 2 kilometres in length. Keyes manoeuvred himself toward a glowing patch that looked like a energy shielded hangar bay, if the hangar had energy shields, then the whole ship must be as well. He would wait however till he met the Admiral and Lieutenant Hikowa in the Hangar.

As Keyes' shuttle touched down on the deck, he could see both Lieutenant Hikowa and Admiral Kote standing in front of the shuttle. Nyles was in his armor sans his helmet and Hikowa in her standard Navy uniform. Keyes got out of the shuttle and walked up to the duo, shaking the Admirals hand "Admiral," eliciting a nod from him, he returned Hikowa's salute. "So Admiral, Lieutenant, want to tell me what happened to the piece of junk that I expected to see." Admiral Nyles smiled "Tell you, we're going to show you, isn't that right Lieutenant?" Hikowa nodded animatedly, Keyes could tell that she was excited "Yes sir, right this way Captain."

The three of them got into an elevator. The Admiral pressed a button and the Elevator sped downward, obviously they were going to the reactor chamber. As the Elevator moved downward, Keyes half expected to see huge glowing structure, but when he saw the reactor, the Captain in him was impressed, the other part of him wished for a pulsating glowing device. Instead what lay before them was a long cylinder covered in dark metal plating and tons of pipes and wires flowing in and out of the device. Keyes turned toward the Admiral "This is the reactor?" Nyles nodded "Precisely, enough to power the Autumn for the next 10 years, and heavily armoured, if your ship is critically damaged, it won't be your reactor that destroys it. Additionally, the reactor will let you push the engines to three hundred per cent of their output without so much as loading it up to forty per cent. Note that this will cause a dip in shield regeneration. If you find yourself in a tough spot, you can pump more power into the shields, dropping engine output, but doubling shield strength and almost tripling regeneration rate. You can either turtle up or run like a rabbit based on your odds. Keyes nodded in appreciation, this opened up whole new avenues for newer more rewarding tactics. "I'm impressed Admiral, you said that all this and no recharging for the next 10 years?" Nyles nodded "That's right." Lieutenant Hikowa however, appeared distracted; Keyes decided to enquire further into the matter "Something on you mind Lieutenant?" Hikowa shook her head "No sir, I just can wait to show off the new weapon systems." Keyes saw Nyles gesture back to the elevator "Lead the way Lieutenant." The petite Japanese woman smiled, and stepped first into the elevator.

Soon they were at the main bridge, the location of which impressed Keyes the most. Instead of being at the front of the ship like the bridge on most UNSC ships, it was on the top, although well below the layers of armor. Nyles had said that bridges on all UNSC ships were being moved to less vulnerable locations. The first thing that shocked him was the presence of both view screens and if he so wished collapsible blast doors with actual windows if the view screens failed. Lieutenant Hikowa read off her list of the ships weapons "The new MAC can fire three times on a single capacitor bank charge, and recharges in half that time!" Keyes' eyes widened "That's…impressive." Hikowa continued "That's not all, we have two MACs now, just like UNSC Lancer-class destroyers. Not to mention the Archer pods have been replaced with the Republic's Baradium missiles, they have double the blast radius. They also added eight of their "Heavy Turbolaser-Plasma Hybrid" cannons on each side near the engines and the point defence cannons have been replaced with "Heavy Laser-Plasma Hybrid" cannons. Our arsenal is supplemented with Shiva Nuclear missiles, including a remote piloted Longsword that can be piloted by AI." Keyes nodded, his hand on his chin "I take it you approve, Lieutenant?" She smiled "To quote Ensign Lovell sir, I think I'm in love."

Nyles walked up to Keyes "So Captain, how do you like her?" Keyes looked over the bridge again "I must say Admiral, she's…amazing." Nyles nodded "Well, you're bound to get your orders soon, I hope that I didn't delay you, or bore you with technical details." Keyes laughed "You don't have to worry about that Admiral; I'm married to Dr Halsey." It was now Nyles' eyes' turn to widen "THE Dr Halsey? As in Dr Catherine Elizabeth Halsey of ONI section III?" Keyes chuckled "You know another Dr Halsey Admiral?" Nyles laughed "No Captain, I do not, well…I'll leave you to it then." As Nyles left the bridge, a female voice called out from behind him "I like that man, smart, no nonsense, good engineer, great officer…" Keyes turned around "He's taken Cortana." The AI stroked her chin "Pity, he's…interesting." Keyes just shook his head "Shakedown finished?" she nodded "Yup, just about." Keyes nodded "Then transmit orders, we're leaving." She nodded, paused for a second and then spoke "One Halcyon-class Battle cruiser, two Lancer-class Destroyers, two Charon-class light frigates, two Paris-class heavy frigates and one Republic Nebula-class Cruiser, awful lot for an exploration fleet." Keyes couldn't shake that thought too, but he couldn't afford to show it "Just get us underway Cortana." Cortana snapped off a salute "Aye, aye Captain."

**A/N: Not featuring a weapons presentation in this chapter, I'll show the various Spartan and ODST reactions to the weapons during battle, I already talked enough about the weapons in the last chapter. Any questions? PM or review if so. Also when reviewing, if you like the chapter please take the time to tell me what you liked and if you didn't, well tell me what was wrong/what you didn't like. Till next time…**


	10. Chapter 8: Halo

Chapter 8 – Halo

**Keyes' Perspective**

Keyes watched as the _Pillar of Autumn _returned to normal space, what lay in front of his small fleet however, was what shocked him; a large ring shaped construct 10000 kilometers in diameter. Keyes was shocked, it was definitely not Covenant in design; he didn't have to be a xenoarchaeology expert to know that. What Keyes couldn't understand however, was what its purpose was, or worse; what the Covenant wanted with it. Keyes' attention turned to the holo tank which came to life; the avatar of Cortana appearing in it.

"Captain, the _Defender _is hailing us, shall I put them through?"

Keyes smiled, it was indeed a rhetorical question; Cortana was a lot like Halsey that way. Though that didn't come as a surprise to him, she was after all; created from Catherine's cloned brain tissue. He turned toward the AI "Of course Cortana, I hope they can tell us something about what we are seeing here." Cortana nodded, the Holoprojector dulled, only to come to life again revealing a man in white armor. The man that stood in front of Keyes was Captain Viper, commanding officer of the _Defender of the Core_, the cruiser sent to assist them. Keyes didn't know much about the man, but he trusted that he could get the job done.

"Captain Keyes, our AI finished a scan of the construct, he says that there is significant Covenant Activity, he suggests that we make haste and deploy our forces, I concur with his observation."

Keyes would feel better if he knew what this thing was, but their AI was right, if it's got the Covenant interested, then it couldn't be good "I agree Captain; I'll begin deploying UNSC ground forces immediately. I would feel better if we knew who the heck made this thing or what it was."

The armored man looked off screen for a second and then turned back "There appears to be another complication; a Covenant fleet has just completed slingshot orbit and is heading straight for us. I don't understand who made this either, but frankly, I have this feeling that I don't want to know. The _Defender _will hold them off until you complete insertion of your troops, and then we will assist with our own troops."

Keyes nodded "Give 'em hell Captain." He turned around "Lieutenant Hall, inform the fleet that we are moving in close to the construct." She nodded and began typing commands into the console. He watched as the Frigates sped off in the direction of the ring world, their engines giving off a ghostly blue. He walked over to the elevator and punched in the deck that housed the Hangar Bay.

Captain Keyes stepped out of the elevator into the port hangar, which was a hive of activity. He could see vehicles that he thought that he would never see again or see ever. He could see a trio of Sparrowhawk gunships following a two pelicans out the hangar into the void. Normally they would have to be deployed into atmosphere, but not anymore. He then raised his hand to shield himself from the wave of heat that hit him when three Longsword fighters flew out to escort the drop ships and gunships. Keyes walked over to three black Pelicans at the edge of the Hangar bay. As he walked he got salutes from naval and marine personnel.

One of the pelicans had large white lettering on it spelling out: "ECHO 419". He wasn't aware that Foehammer had gotten one of the specs ops Pelicans or that she was now the official "bus driver" for the Spartans. Out of the hangar bay he could see the Lancer Destroyers' engines flare as they moved to engage the three Covenant SDV Heavy corvettes send to intercept their troop deployment frigates.

Keyes had picked a temporary base location already picked out. There was a large Mesa that afforded an easily defendable vantage point with several structures that could be appropriated for their purposes. The problem was that the Covenant already had this location and they had erected some defenses. Keyes was sending in Marine contingents to draw potential Covenant reinforcements away from the base. That's where the Spartan's came in; they would assault the main structures. After the Spartans were deployed he would drop ODSTs in to assist in holding off any counter attack.

Keyes eyes widened as he thought about the number of Spartans aboard his ship, it was a significant amount. Not counting the Spartan IIIs as they were being called, he had almost all of the original Spartan IIs, except Grey Team and those who had lost their lives earlier. He also had a significant count of Spartan IIIs save for the newly formed Noble Team, who were pulled last minute to investigate a disturbance on Reach. He looked at the younger IIIs interacting with the older IIs, checking weapons and other equipment. Keyes ran through the manifest in his head: Teams Gladius, Saber and Katana, as well as a two man team known as team Headhunter.

He watched as one of the Spartans saw him coming and barked out a "Captain on deck!" The entire group of Spartans and pilots snapped to attention, weapons instantly placed at parade rest. The only thing that was familiar about them to Keyes was their armor, and even that had changed so much. The weapons were so very alien, not like the Covenant's, but still a very strict departure from UNSC weapons. He didn't even recognize much of the UNSC destroyers and he had been the Captain of one, he actually found it ironic that the Iroquois was here, and commanded by none other than Commander Miranda Keyes.

Keyes avoided contacting her other than what he needed to, especially with accusations of nepotism being thrown around. Father's pride aside, Miranda had done everything she could for the position she currently held and she deserved it. He returned to the present, "At ease Spartans, you've all been briefed about your mission, correct?"

A Spartan with 117 on his shoulder pad stepped forward, "Sir, yes sir. Spartan teams storm the main structure and await ODST reinforcements."

Keyes knew that he had something to say, "Sir, we have enough forces to take the base without reinforcements."

Another Spartan, this one with 104 on his shoulder pad "Sir, what the Master Chief means to say is that we have enough Spartans to take an Assault Carrier, we don't need the reinforcements, sir. That's also not counting the kids, sir!" Some of the Spartan IIIs were shifting uncomfortably, Keyes couldn't see the man's face but he could have sworn that Spartan-104 was smiling underneath it.

"In that case son, I can't wait to see Major Silva's face."

"Sir, yes sir."

"Get going Spartans; give 'em hell."

Keyes watched as the Spartans all boarded their respective dropships.

**Viper's Perspective**

Viper watched as the UNSC ships left toward the construct, he looked at the displays in front of him; they didn't paint a pretty picture. There were close to two dozen Covenant CCS class battle cruisers, which were certainly more than a match for his cruiser, though he could certainly take several of them out before the UNSC forces got back. This was of course because he far outranged them, and he could cycle his weapon systems a lot faster than they could move into range. Additionally there was a large Assault Carrier and two smaller DDS-Carriers; which had already started spewing out fighters. This was not to mention the quintet of SDV Heavy Corvettes and two destroyers diverting to engage the UNSC. He observed that the Covenant Fleet was fast approaching medium range; he began issuing orders. "Arm Ion Cannons, fire at Covenant forward line. Follow up with a disruptor salvo. Fire at rear line with Plasma cannons, keep them at bay. I want our fighters out there now! Have our bombers flank their second line! Prepare to divert remaining power to shields on my mark."

A series of acknowledgements came from the bridge crew. Viper could see the charge building up on the Covenant weapons, it was time to strike; "Fire!" Ghostly pale ion bolts flew toward the Covenant lines, dropping shields and causing ships to stop dead in water from sudden drop in power levels. Next purple disruptors flew toward the stricken front line, impacting with it. A salvo hit a CCS mid ships severing it in two. Another hit the main energy projector causing a power surge that destroyed the entire projector, crippling the ship. Like the others four more ships in the forward line were destroyed, with three more disabled.

A crewman turned toward him, "Sir, nineteen active enemy ships remaining." But that was when the Covenant fired; plasma torpedoes and energy projector beams streaked toward their ship.

Viper was waiting for this, "All power to the shields, now!" There was an audible hum as the ship's shields strength increased. Everyone held their breath as the first plasma barrage hit the shields, exploding into pure white energy. The ship shook with the force and then again with the second and third barrages. The Energy beams hit the ship next and the bridge lights flickered once as the reactor pumped out more power to keep the shields up, but then it was over. Viper took a breath, "Shield status?"

A crewman consulted the display, "Shields holding steady at 48%!"

Viper nodded, "Send them to hell, power to weapons, fire everything!" Viper knew that they would have to recharge their plasma weapons before they fired next, luckily his weapons recharged a lot faster. The ship's particle accelerators, disruptors, plasma cannons, ion cannons and missiles fired. Viper watched as the shields dropped to 20% as every weapon on the ship absorbed power from the reactor. The three disabled ships were blown to bits by multi-particle accelerator cannons and missiles. Three more CCS cruisers were caught in a barrage of disruptor and plasma rounds, shielding their comrades from it. They were instantly blown to pieces, turned into space dust.

But now he was in trouble, they were in medium range and that still meant he had to face sixteen covenant ships in medium range and with his shields in this state it was not going to be pretty. He could see the bomber squadrons damaging a CCS Battlecruiser with high explosive Baradium ordinance. He turned to a crewman, "Shield and weapon status?"

"Sir, shields are at 40% and charging, fore ion cannon array is cycling, fore port and starboard disruptor array can fire at 30% power, all other weapons systems active." Viper cursed under his breath, none of those would drop shields and let him cut through the fleet. Looking at the plasma weapons on the Covenant ships he could think of a million ways that he could improve their weapons, with a little thinking they could have had electromagnetic accelerated plasma cannons like the ones on his ship. He was glad that they hadn't, right now their numbers and the sheer heat dissipated by the weapons were proving to be a problem for his shields.

"I want the ion cannons online now! Divert power from all nonessential systems, keep the shields charging. Shut down particle accelerator cannon network; give me only fore port and starboard plasma array." A series of affirmative responses came from the crewmen, he looked at his console. The Hyperdrive still had charge; he could escape if he had to – no. He could not abandon them to the Covenant, what's more, they were Mando'ade - they didn't run.

He saw the Covenant Cruisers heat up their plasma weapons and the carriers behind them heat up their plasma lines and energy projectors, the shields would not take another barrage. Just then he saw one of the Covenant CCS Battlecruisers get hit in the ventral energy projector, causing a chain reaction that took the cruiser next to it. Then the cruiser next to that suffered the same fate. The Covenant fleet was in disarray as some turned to face their attacker from below, powering down their projectors while others continued pursuing him.

He watched as his bombers took a cue from assisting UNSC Battlecruiser and Destroyers and began attacking the still charging energy projectors taking out four more ships in a similar fashion. Viper breathed a sigh of relief, he was safe for now. That Assault Carrier would still be a match for all of the UNSC ships present, but with Republic modifications and his ship thrown into the mix, it might be an even fight. Viper noted that the Assault Carrier hadn't even fired at him earlier, but also noted that attempting an assault when his ship was in this state was a foolhardy maneuver.

"Shut everything but point defense down, get the shields back up to full power. Then get me my ion cannon and disruptor network back online! Divert our fighters and bombers to assist the UNSC forces, should buy us the time we need."

**Keyes' Perspective**

Keyes watched as the MAC rounds streaked forward hitting the CCS in its ventral energy projector, the entire ship began to explode in a large chain reaction that consumed the ship next to it. The entire bridge erupted into celebration. "Lieutenant Hall, tell our Longswords to join the Republic Bombers, have the Sabers take over as fighter defense. Lieutenant Hikowa, coordinate with Ensign Lovell to ensure we hit as many of these bastards with their pants down as possible." Keyes could hear the chorus of 'yes sir!' echo throughout the bridge.

Keyes expected to watch as the lights on the bridge dimmed as the ship's MAC discharged but they stayed bright. Keyes smiled at even the small luxuries that the new tech afforded them. He smiled as several more heavy-MAC rounds streaked into the ventral energy projector of yet another CCS Battlecruiser. The cruiser exploded into a brilliant blue display of colors. He could see the shields of the cruiser next to it flare and wink out of existence. "Lieutenant Hikowa, fire pods A1 through A10!"

"Sir, yes sir!" Keyes watched the Republic manufactured missiles streak out of their pods in the side of his ship; before he could even blink they were already at the cruiser only around 20% swatted out by point defense lasers. The rest of the Covenant fleet wizened up and deactivated their energy projectors their shields closing in place. The remaining nine Battlecruisers and two DDS carriers turned toward the new threat – his battle group. He still had another MAC cannon that could fire another three rounds at the oncoming fleet, meaning that he could put a single or even two Covenant ships if he got lucky. The two Lancer-class destroyers could put two or four more, but the Frigates would be a slight problem, if they managed to down the shields on the Battlecruisers then they could squeeze in a missile strike.

"Sir, Covenant fleet is charging weapons!" called out Lieutenant Hall.

"Lieutenant Hikowa, send them to hell! Fire secondary MAC! Start recharging primary MAC, warm up missile pod guidance systems; even if we only manage to wing some of the bastards we can finish them with our missiles."

Keyes watched as his a MAC round streaked forward hitting a Covenant CCS Battlecruiser head on, knocking its shields out of existence. The gun fired again, shattering the forward bulbous portion of the same cruiser. He then felt the ship shift toward the right to give them a firing angle on another CCS Battlecruiser. Once more the MAC gun loosed another heavy slug at its intended target, the round streaked forward and Keyes watched as the shields on the cruiser flashed silver once before fading.

"Finish them off Lieutenant." He watched as missiles streaked from his ship and while 15% were knocked out by point defense lasers the others still found their intended target and hit the Battlecruiser. Explosions mushroomed all over the ship and when the smoke cleared he could see that the CCS Battlecruiser had been split into two from the middle.

Just then the remnants of the Covenant Fleet opened fire Keyes watched as plasma torpedoes streaked forward toward his ship and several more toward the two Lancer-class destroyers. Keyes counted a total of fourteen torpedoes coming from the remaining eight ships. He also watched as the Assault Carrier now accelerated to join the battle. Keyes cursed underneath his breath, even with the shielding tech; there was no way that he would survive both this barrage and the one that was sure to follow.

Just then Lieutenant Dominique turned toward him, "Sir, incoming message from Commander Keyes." He nodded, prompting Lieutenant Dominique to display it on the holo tank.

"Captain, both the _Valiant_ and the _Midlothian_ will intercept the incoming fire, buy you and the rest of the fleet some time to return fire."

"Not an option Commander, I can't ask you do that."

"With all due respect Dad, get yourself out of there, regroup and kill the bastards."

"Miranda…"

"Dad, look…it's the only way and you know it…we can't let them get whatever is on that ring." Keyes knew that it was true, according to Republic Data the shields would hold for around eight of the plasma torpedoes and dumping all power from the reactors into the shields would increase their strength to take even more. This alone would give the _Autumn _and the rest of the UNSC fleet, two Paris Heavy Frigates and two Charon Light Frigates the time they needed to engage and destroy the remaining six CCS Battlecruisers maybe fire some nukes in hope of taking the two DDS Carriers out.

Keyes wondered what had happened to that Republic Cruiser and what was taking it so long to get back into the fight. Keyes hoped that they wouldn't be out of the fight much longer; even if _Valiant _and the _Midlothian_ were going to take the hit for the rest of them, they would need their assistance if they were to even stand a chance against the three carriers.

Keyes watched as the two Destroyers moved in front of the _Autumn _and Keyes sent out a silent prayer for all of the poor damned souls aboard the two ships. Keyes turned to Lieutenant Hall, "Lieutenant, divert power to recharge both MAC guns and keep them charged." Lieutenant Hall nodded once, solemnly. He then turned toward Lieutenant Hikowa and Ensign Lovell "Lieutenant, I prepare to fire, remove safeties on our Nuclear Weapons, just in case. Ensign Lovell, I want you to give us a firing vector on the lead Battlecruiser." Both crew members nodded and began carrying out their orders.

Keyes wanted to say something to Miranda, but he knew she needed to be there for her crew. He mused about how despite the intervention of the Republic and all of their advanced technology, the Covenant were still beating them. Keyes closed his eyes before the plasma torpedoes were in close range, it was something that he just couldn't watch.

Just then the surprised cries of his bridge crew made him open his eyes, "What the hell was that?" asked an extremely shocked Lieutenant Hall. Lieutenant Dominique and Lieutenant Hikowa were silent.

Ensign Jaggers jaw was almost touching the deck plate, "How in hell did they pull that off?" Keyes looked at what had shocked everyone, in front of the two UNSC Lancer destroyers with smoke coming off its fore deck, and with bits of plating floating away was the Republic Cruiser _Defender._

Keyes watched as his holo tank winked to life, he could see Captain Viper pulling himself off of the deck his helmet lying s short distance away from him. Right now he was taking to crewmen off screen "Status report!"

Keyes could hear the voices of crewmen reading data readouts off of displays, "Fore armor plating reduced to 60%, shield generator alpha overloading – shutting it down now, Disruptor and Ion cannon network is online, Particle Accelerator Cannon network offline, plasma point defense online, missile pods in fore section out of commission."

Viper turned toward Keyes, he noticed that Viper was losing blood from a cut on his forehead. He reached and wiped the blood off of his forehead, "Captain Keyes, the _Defender _is on station, our shields may be out but our main weapon systems are still online. Now, let's wipe what's left of their fleet out."

Keyes nodded, "Music to my ears Captain, we can handle the Battlecruisers take those carriers out and then we can take that Assault Carrier out."

"Sounds like a plan, good hunting."

**Viper's Perspective**

"Target the two DDS Carriers, fire ion cannons. Follow up with every disruptor cannon on this ship that's still functioning. Fire off every missile in the pod at the carriers and fire off every plasma cannon as well; make sure that they know we're not out of the fight yet."

"Sir yes sir!" called out the various crew members in charge of each weapons system. Viper watched as the ion cannons turned toward their two targets and unleashed a hail of ghostly pale white bolts at them. The ion barrage hit each carrier causing electricity to arc all over the hull of each ship as their systems overloaded. He then watched as they were powerless to defend against the oncoming missile barrage tearing them to pieces. Huge portions of the carrier were torn off. Viper watched as the few Seraph fighter squadrons that tried to flee were quickly intercepted and shot down by Republic-UNSC fighter squadrons.

The remaining Assault Carrier began to turn around and accelerate toward the systems edge as Disruptor and Accelerated Plasma Bolts pummeled its shields. Viper watched as UNSC Destroyers accelerated to intercept the ship, but Viper knew that they would catch it, and in this shape, neither would the _Defender_. Well, they had won, for now.

**Covenant CAS Assault Carrier**

Shipmaster Thel Vadamee watched as the two carriers crumbled under the wave of heavy weapons fire from the new human ship. Thel respected the UNSC humans enough, they fought ferociously enough as it is, these new humans, they fought even harder. They were more advanced, but they were outnumbered and yet they managed to along with the UNSC fleet destroy his entire fleet and suffer almost no losses. They had lost several fighters, but no other ships, which to him was unthinkable.

Thel cursed at the fact that the UNSC ships were upgraded with new weapons and shields. He had no choice, he would have to leave the holy ring to bring back more so that he could wipe them out and reclaim the holy artifact. "Take us back to High Charity; we must inform the prophets of this."

One of the crew members an Ultra turned toward him, "Shipmaster, what of the holy ring and our brothers on it?"

"They will stay strong and await our return. We will return a thousand strong and these humans will be crushed and the ring secured. Take heart brother, soon the great journey will begin."

**Master Chief's Perspective**

Master Chief looked at the weapon in his hand. Republic supplied Westar M7, featuring a magazine fed under barrel grenade launcher. Everything from the rifle in his hand to the Pelican he was sitting in had been either supplied by or upgraded by the Republic. Chief had no idea what their motive was, or why they were helping them so much. It honestly made no sense to him, especially why they were fighting so hard against the Covenant.

Chief dismissed the thoughts from his head. "Alright Spartans, you know your objectives. Teams Katana, Gladius, Sabre and Headhunter, you are going to take out the Covenant Defenses around the main structure. You will be assisted by Spartan Green led by Joshua. Spartan Red and Spartan Blue will move in and secure the main structure. Air support is on station so no heroes, is that understood?"

The other Spartans all called out, "Sir, yes sir!" He turned to Kelly and she nodded her head in approval. He opened a comm link to all of the newly reorganized Spartan Blue – Fred, Linda, Kelly, Will, James, Grace, Anton and Li.

"Alright Blue listen up, Linda and Fred, I want you to take overwatch, Anton you and Kelly take point. James and Will you're with me, Li, Grace you've got rearguard." He watched everyone checking their weapons and he did he mental check of them. Fred was carrying a DX-16 Marksman Rifle and two "Vibro Knives" as well as a DX-18 Disruptor Pistol as a sidearm. Linda had both a DX-16 and a Verpine Shatter Rifle. Both Fred and Linda were going to be able to provide a very effective Overwatch and should they need to engage in mid-close range combat they had the weapons for that as well. Kelly was cradling a M-2 MPAC as well as two Westar M8 PDWs on her thighs. Anton had an M-2 MPAC as well as a Westar M7 like him. Will had a DX-20 SAW and a Westar M7. Li had a Z-8 Disruptor Cannon and Grace had a PLEX 6-D and a Arakyd Industries Multiple Ordinance Grenade Launcher. All in all, Chief was confident that they could handle whatever the Covenant threw at them, and for once he was confident that the fleet could secure a victory as well.

A voice crackled in his helmet, "Master Chief, Foehammer here - ETA five minutes. Covenant Air Cover is present so this has got to be quick and clean."

"Pelican Echo 419, this is Longsword Fighter Squadron Raptor, we have you covered."

"Yeah, yeah I just got this bird and I don't want to put her safety in your hands Raptor 1-1."

"Ha! You won't say that when we wipe out those Seraphs on an intercept vector." Chief could see the pilots accelerate past their Pelican and past the viewing range of the view screen.

Just then he heard another voice, this one from inside his head, "Things are going well for the fleet, they just wiped out the Covenant fleet save for one vessel which just fled the system."

"That's good news."

"Isn't it? Although that Republic cruiser took quite a beating, hull plating badly damaged. Or so they say, obviously they've never seen a ship with all its plating depleted."

"I still don't get them."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't understand why they're fighting for us, especially this hard."

"Well the Covenant doesn't distinguish between the two of us Chief – to them we're all the same. It doesn't matter what galaxy we're from. The Republic probably understands that distinguishing between the two of us when our enemy won't is a bad idea."

The Chief was silent in thought. Cortana prodded him further, "Careful now, I'm detecting a lot of increased brain activity."

"I see your sense of humor is still intact."

He could almost see her smile, "Always."

Just then he heard Kelly's voice over the team comm "Chief, something wrong?"

"No, just wondering how the space battle's going" he lied, if there was going to be cooperation with the Republic he would have to keep such thoughts to himself.

**Yep, haven't been updating this in a while. I was working on and finished my first FanFic (Borderlands X Star Wars Crossover). Anyways, now this one might see more frequent updates. Till next time…**


	11. Chapter 9:New Discoveries

Chapter 9 – New Discoveries

**Captain Alpha's Perspective**

Alpha was looking at several engineers heading outside in maintenance craft and heavy lift droids to repair the armor plating. Alpha had heard about the plating tiles being modular, hence being easier to refit, but that wasn't his responsibility. However it certainly was his concern, after all, this was their ride out of this system. Sitting in the Hangar Bay with the rest of Squad 13 and waiting for General Skywalker, General Tur Mukaan, General Tano and those di'kut commandos. The rest of the 501st was loading their equipment onto gunships.

"Captain, what's our objective here?" asked Heavy, leaning his rotary cannon against the wall of the troop bay.

"When I say you can skip the briefing, at least read the info packets."

"I mean what are we doing here?"

"You see that huge ring Heavy? We're here to find out what the hell it is, and why the Covenant want it so badly."

"It just doesn't make any sense to me…" Alpha had this bad feeling that they were being watched, and almost no one could sneak up on him. There was one possibility and that it was one that he was only just getting accustomed to.

"All right Rakatan, show yourself."

True enough the Rakatan projected itself from the troop bay holoprojector, "I have a name, Mandalorian."

Echo smiled, "You never did tell us your name, and you never seemed to want to talk."

"It takes time for people to warm up to each other, it has been many years since I have had the warmth of conversation. My name, it is Rehon."

Alpha smirked, "I would have said something about it, but then I suppose that is a normal name for Rakatans, isn't it?"

"I have met many of your ancestors Mandalorian, I had very high regard for them. They were skilled warriors, for a primitive species. Look at you now, if there was one thing the Mandalorians would master it would be weapons, and armor of course."

"While I appreciate the small talk, there is a reason you were listening to our conversation. What is on that ring?"

"I do not know, we left our allies very quickly, when disaster struck, we were forced to leave."

Alpha noticed the three Jedi and the commandos walking toward the gunship, they didn't say a word, they just listened to Rehon speaking. "I have no memory of what it was we were running from, there is a void in my mind where it should be."

Echo cut in, "You mean the data is corrupted?"

"Do you know what I am Lieutenant, who I am? My people never made artificial intelligences, they trapped the minds of those they could never afford to lose to time in complex computers. My memories have been removed, and for a reason that I cannot determine."

Ahsoka had her hand over her mouth in shock, "That sounds terrible."

"Not as bad as you would imagine, after all, I am here today, to assist in stopping the horrors we unleashed upon the universe. I'm sorry that my assistance has its limits."

Skywalker sighed, "Why didn't you come clean earlier."

"Something about seeing my old allies final attempt, their last effort has made me realize that secrecy helped no one. The ones that built this ring, the Forerunners, were allies of the Rakatan people. We helped them with their war against their foes, the Precursors. In doing so we unleashed a terrible evil on the galaxy."

Skywalker nodded, "All right, thank you. But now, we have a job to do."

"I understand," with that the hologram disappeared, they all stepped into the gunship.

He could hear General Skywalker's voice over the radio, "Hawk, take us in."

"Yes General Skywalker" The gunships took off and headed out through the shields that were over the Hangar bay and out into the dark void of space. Alpha could see escorting fighters take position around the gunships from the view screens. The flew closer and closer to the ring shaped construct until he could see the terrain, green grass with a large valley and hills. In the distance a large butte could be seen, with some sort of structure on top of it. With his rangefinder he could make out two specks that were most likely UNSC Pelican dropships from what little of their outline he could make out.

He felt the floor shake under him and he could also hear a high pitched whine as the gunships quad heavy plasma laser hybrid cannons opened up on the Covenant in the area. "Squad 13, check your weapons, no mistakes." He watched as both his squad and Omega and Delta checked their weapons, Skywalker and his former Padawan removed their lightsabers off of their belt and Tur Mukaan pulled a Westar M7 off of her back and checked it's power cell.

As the door opened Alpha saw a Grunt attempting to get to its feet and put a bolt from his Westar M7 into its brain. He saw several more approaching and opened fire, killing three, while Fives put a single bolt through the eyes of the remaining two. The Elite Minor leading the currently very dead squad attempted to fire at them with his Plasma Rifle, but his head was removed by a Sniper Shot fired by Sev.

They continued to cut through the Covenant, Alpha new that while their attack was only diversionary, they still had to kill these troops before reinforcements arrived. He watched as the other Gunships swooped in and deployed men from the 501st all over. The Covenant was really quite finished, the waves of grunts were getting mowed down and the few Elites that were there were easily killed by the large amount of Clones present.

Alpha ordered a squad up to flank the troops disembarking from newly arrived Covenant dropships. "Yes sir, Aurek Squad, move up their flank!"

Echo walked up to him as he put a burst into the head of an Elite that got too close for comfort. "How long are we supposed to hold this position?"

"As long as we're needed to! UNSC is capturing that base on that butte, we need to keep the Covies distracted!"

"As long as I've got power cells, I've got your back. But I have to say, we haven't lost any men but 501st is reporting five injured critically and 15 with minor wounds." Alpha looked at the 501st positions, he could see Snipers and Support gunners tearing through the infantry, Riflemen wiping out grunts en masse, but he could also see a piles of Covenant bodies lining up. As Echo had said, they could hold this position as long as they could keep shooting, and then some. But it all made no sense, with them losing both dropships and banshee fighters to the patrolling gunships and fighters, and they were losing ground forces by the droves – it made no sense. Unless…they were testing them, testing the Republic, learning how they fought. No matter, as much as it was a problem, this allowed the Republic to do their own information gathering.

His train of thought was cut short by shouts of "Scarab! Get to cover!"

Alpha got on the COM, "I need rockets, Squad Aurek, Squad Besh open fire!" He watched as rockets tore bits of plating off of the walker.

Heavy loaded a new rocket into his PLEX launcher, "Captain, that wasn't very effective, we need an airstrike!" Alpha began to think, his HUD told him that Hawk and the rest of his squadron were busy and that the fighters were loaded for air-to-air engagements. This wasn't good, they would just have to continue to open fire. He watched two AT-XTs and an AT-TE move forward and open fire, but still, the Walker was in one piece. Then, it fired. The unfortunate AT-XT that it fired at exploded into pieces.

"Hawk, this is Alpha, we're getting torn to pieces down here. We need air support."

"I'm a little busy here," Alpha heard an explosion in the background "I'm sorry sir, you're on your own!"

"Captain, I'm detecting something on the scanners," said ECHO as he fired at the Covenant that used the Scarab attack as a diversion to attack the Republic troops.

Alpha fired a grenade from his under barrel grenade launcher at an oncoming group of Grunts and Jackals. "Echo, that scanner must be malfunctioning if it took this long to register a contact that size!" Suddenly several explosions mushroomed all around the Scarab. Followed by barrages of Heavy Plasma Hybrid Cannon fire. Cheers echoed from all of the Republic Soldiers, who raised their weapons and began to pursue the Covenant as the Scarab dropped to the ground before exploding in a cloud of plasma, smoke and debris. Alpha turned around to see two AC-222 'Vulture' Gunships hovering behind them, the UNSC had finally lent a hand.

**Master Chief's Perspective**

"So Cortana, any news?" asked Fred.

"Covenant fleet is on the run, the RSS _Defender_ took some damage to their fore deck armor plating and their missile pods. I just finished speaking to their AI, they should be done quickly."

"That's good news, at least we have them on the run."

"Yes, we do."

Foehammer's voice came in through their helmet speakers as the Dropship bumped around a little more than usual**.** "Alright Spartans, we're at the drop zone**.** I'll try and soften them up a little until air support gets here."

Any outside observer would see three shimmer in the air streak through toward the butte that the Covenant were currently occupying. As well as an entire squadron of Longswords fly at the oncoming Seraphs. Out of the view screens, John could see the Longsword**s'** gun ports flash blue and discharge ghostly blue plasma at the Seraphs. The lead Seraph was unlucky enough to be caught in a hail of fire from two fighters, then two missiles, which effectively finished the job.

He felt the gunship bank to the left to move out of the way of an exploding Seraph fighter as they approached the Covenant positions. "Alright, all call signs, drop cloak on my command. Three, two, one and mark!" Through the view screen **C**hief could see the Pelican return to its default black color. He could feel the craft shudder as the main turret opened up barraging Covenant positions. Chief turned toward the cabin.

"Blue Team, Red Team, prepare for insertion. You know the plan, stick to it**,**" he said as he raised his Westar M7. The group of Spartans assembled near the rear of the craft as it came in close to drop them off. The rear loading ramp dropped open with a hiss, revealing Covenant troops diving for cover to spray exiting troops from relative safety. He fired three bursts into three grunts whose curiosity was their undoing.

Kelly bounded off of the ramp**.** As she sprinted toward theElite Minor**,** she fired, taking out his shields instantly**, **the remaining accelerated particles flying out of his back. The Elite dropped onto the floor,purple blood pooling around him. Anton did the same to a shield wielding Jackal,[the force from the shot knocking him backward**. **The jackal behind him didn't move nearly fast enough andhis lifewas promptly ended, by way of a single shot from Linda's DX-16 Disruptor Rifle. Chief looked down at the head of the Jackal**. **Most of it was gone, courtesy of the disruptor. He almost felt bad for the Jackal**.** It was a good thing**,** however**,** that the Republic had hardware locks on their technology. He would hate to see what would happen if the Covenant got their hands on this.

Li was routing the grunts en masse with his Z-8 Disruptor Cannon**, **and Grace had taken out one of the Shade turrets that Foehammer had missed with her PLEX-6D missile Launcher. He waved his team forward as he watched Spartan Green Team and the Spartan IIIs move in and begin to clean up the remaining Covenant. Chief noticed several Covenant Phantom Dropships moving in. Joshua walked up to him, rifle aimed in the direction of the incoming Covenant Dropships**.** "We've got this Chief, take the structure."

Chief nodded**,** "Good luck Joshua. Red, Blue, let's move." Anton and Kelly moved forward toward the alien structure that the Covenant were using as a base of operations. They took up positions around the door. Kelly had her datapad out**.** "Kelly, they know we're here. G**o** loud." Kelly stepped back as Grace walked forward and placed a Baradium explosive on the door.

"Okay, I haven't used this stuff before, maybe we should take a step back." All of the Spartans looked at Grace cautiously and who shrugged, "It should be fine." Chief took an extra step back, just to be sure. The explosive blew loud and hard, the door's locking mechanism was blown to pieces, but the door itself intact. Chief signaled Anton and together they pried the door open, throwing in a grenade as they did. Shouts of dread accompanied by shouts of pain echoing out from the other side told him that the would-be defenders were very dead. Anton and Kelly turned around and scanned the entrance for any signs of life.

Kelly lowered her weapon ever so slightly, "Clear."

Chief stepped in and together they made for the second level, weapons at the ready. As they walked onto the landing, they were met with a huge barrage of gunfire. Chief noticed his shields drop to 80%. They made for what seemed to be support struts along the walls, taking cover behind them. They couldn't stay here, they needed to push on. "Will, Li, covering fire!" Will and Li stepped out, switching their shields to Assault Mode, taking a brunt of the fire before returning a hellish barrage of their own. He could see the Covenant flee from behind the barricade they had erected in the corridor as the personal shields collapsed, leaving several Elite Minors and a single Elite Major holding their ground, taking cover behind the struts as well. Now was their time to strike, force them out of cover and then cut them down.

"Now!" Several acknowledgement lights went off. The Spartans took up perfect formation, with Will and Li moving forward, continuing to spray at their cover. Will's burst caught one of the minors in the leg, dropping his shields and the last bolt searing through his flesh. He dropped onto his knees, Chief fired a burst into his head, killing him. They stopped a good ten feet from the Elites when Will spoke up.

"Down to quarter of a power cell."

Chief got on the comm to Grace, "Grenades, now." Grace raised her launcher and fired, the grenades forcing two of the Minors out of their cover and out into Li's field of fire. The barrage of disruptor bolts dropped their shields and tore through their armor. The two Minors dropped to the floor, giving two pained grunts as they did. The team moved forward until suddenly the air in front of him shimmered, Chief took a quick step backward as the space in front of him was slashed with an energy sword as the shimmer resolved itself to be an Elite Major.

The Major growled at him, holding the blade out in front of him. Fred stepped forward, unsheathing two knives, but two MPAC shots**,** courtesy of Anton and **Kelly**,halted his advance. He tipped his head to the side, watching the mangled body of the Major hit the floor.

Fred sheathed both knives, retrieving his knife and walking over to Kelly**,** "I could have taken him."

Kelly turned toward him as together Spartan Blue and Red moved forward. "I did," she said, swiping two finders across her face plate in a Spartan Smile**.** Fred returned the action, smiling grimly behind the faceplate in an echo of the gesture. Chief waved them on. They needed to clear this structure. They soon came across what the Covenant were using as a control room and the three Elites were no match for the Spartans, they killed two before one of them surrendered. They never surrendered, something was not right. What surprised him was that they hadn't faced any Hunters yet, he assumed that the Covenant hadn't stationed any in this base. The Covenant hadn't exactly put a huge fight to defend the base. What he had noticed during the assault was that the Covenant that they had fought were wearing slightly different equipment from the ones they had fought earlier. Cortana was currently sweeping their systems, searching for anything that was useful.

"Good work, I disabled the security systems and…I found something**,**" said Cortana.

"What did you find?"

"The Covenant have discovered a weapons cache, somewhere in the swamps."

"Swamps? Cortana, you have to be a little more specific than that."

"Curious, they don't have any coordinates here, might have to find something."

"I have a better idea," he said, turning toward the restrained Elite.

"Hmm…good idea, let's ask hinge head here."

Chief turned toward the Elite, who was flanked by Will and Anton "Do you understand me?"

He nodded, "What is it you want demon?"

"The weapons cache, where is it?"

The Elite responded nonchalant, "The swamp."

Fred facepalmed, "A split jaw with a sense of humor, great."

Chief stepped forward, grabbing the Elite by the neck and lifting him to his feet "Where is the swamp?"

"Perhaps you should find yourself a _map**,**_Demon."

Fred took another step forward, "Look, how about this, You tell us where the swamp is, and I won't shoot you."

Cortana cut in, "Chief, the Elite isn't lying, I found a reference to a location called the 'Silent Cartographer'."

The Chief repeated it, "The Silent Cartographer?"

Suddenly a small orb-like creature flew in, "Precisely Reclaimer, and you must go there now." Over the next several minutes both the Elite and the orb like creature explained to the Spartans the situation on the ring. The Elite talked about finding this creature when they were sweeping this facility and he had explained to them who the creators of this ring, the forerunners, were. He finished with his discovery that the prophets had lied to them and that he had no intention of fighting humanity.

Chief suddenly noticed that his motion tracker was showing them surrounded, he looked around and watched as a dozen Elites decloaked all around him, all of the Spartans snapped their weapons up. Fred took a step back, "Whoa, where did these guys come from?"

The Elite in front of them stood up, "You see demon, I could have attacked you at any time. Is this not enough proof that I do not seek conflict with your kind, keep in mind that you have killed several of my brothers before our…conversation." The Elite took a step back and one of his men cut him free as the Chief and the rest of the Spartans were forced to look at the two dozen or so Elites that surrounded them.

The little orb, which had introduced itself as 343 Guilty Spark flew over to the Elite, "These Reclaimers must not be harmed! We had an agreement."

The Elite took two plasma rifles from his comrade "That, is entirely up to the demons, oracle. If they fire on us, we will have no choice. Enough men have died today."

"Cortana?"

"Not like we have a choice do we? I'll get Captain Keyes on the comm."

He turned to the Elite and extended his hand, the Elite gave his equivalent of a smile and shook it "I have to clear this with my Commander."

"I understand, I hope he will see reason. Our kind have killed each other for long, the Prophet's lies will not lead us down that path any longer!" The Elites behind him cheered, some raising their weapons into the air.

The voice of Captain Keyes came through his helmet speakers, "Master Chief, what am I hearing about a rogue Covenant Faction?"

"Sir, we…"

Keyes cut him off, "I'm aware, son. Cortana filled me in. The way I see it we have no choice, they seem to know where this weapons cache is, and that 'Forerunner' AI seems to be another issue. A Republic contingent is on its way to deploy some more permanent base building equipment, I'll inform their commander. Keyes out."

Master Chief turned toward the Elite, "Alright, where is this Silent Cartographer?"

"Ah, that demon, I _can_tell you." Right as the Elite finished his sentence, his motion tracker informed him about several friendly contacts on an inbound vector, specifically 13 Republic Clone Troopers. He turned around and saw both the Commando teams he had seen on Sigma Octanus IV, Omega and Delta as well as the 'Jedi' that followed them. Behind them were the two Jedi he had seen on the _Guardian_ and ARC Squad 13. "More humans," he crossed one arm over his chest "you have proven to be very capable foes." Chief could see the slight look of shock on their faces, those whose faces he could see.

**Captain Rex's Perspective**

"General Skywalker, General Tur Mukaan, orders?"

Skywalker took a step forward, "Lower your weapons Rex." Skywalker tapped a button on his wrist comm and the Rakatan AI appeared. The lead Elite looked very confused, in all honesty he was slightly confused about why they would revolt now, but he wouldn't mind having the intel that they would not doubt share.

"Ah, 343 Guilty Spark, Monitor of Installation 04. It has been a long time."

"Rehon, Interloper, I did not believe we would meet again. I see you have brought more of your Taung mercenaries?"

"They are only partially Taung, do you still have control of the teleportation network?"

"No, the Teleportation Network has been locked down as stated in protocol."

"What about the Cartographer?"

"That location is compromised, those Covenant are very heavily dug in. They are searching attempting to access the Cartographer as well."

"Then an assault it is."

"I'm afraid so old friend, only then can we follow protocol."

The Rakatan seemed to pause for a moment, "Of course."

Skywalker stepped forward, "Rehon, what's the plan?"

"Simple Skywalker, we assault the island of the Silent Cartographer, retrieve the coordinates to the Control Room."

"What about this 'Weapons Cache that I've been hearing about?"

"Immaterial, likely a ruse left by the Covenant."

"But…"

"Skywalker, are you aware of what Halo's purpose is?"

"No."

"It _is_the weapon, finding the control room is a priority!"

"Alright, Captain, you heard the man. Let's get moving…"

"Music to my ears sir, may I suggest sending Squad 13, Delta, Omega and whichever assets the UNSC are willing to spare first?"

It was Etain's turn to speak, "Assuming the UNSC sends their 'Spartans'."

The one called the Master Chief stepped forward, turning toward General Skywalker, "Sir, Spartan Blue will assist with the assault."

Another Spartan, whose FOF tag read Isaac-039, turned towards 117, "Sir, what about Red?"

Skywalker turned him "You, Green, the other Spartans and the Elites stay here with part of the 501st and Jedi Knight Tano. The reason we came here was because the Covenant are mounting a massive assault on this base. Stay here and defend it. Rex, you, me, Torrent Company, Squad 13, Omega, Delta, General Tur Mukaan and Spartan Blue will assault the Silent Cartographer, kill any Covenant there and find that Control room."

He nodded, "Sir, yes sir."

The Elite stepped forward, "I appreciate your concern human, but we should come with you."

Skywalker held his hand up, "No, I don't fully trust you yet. Stay here and earn it, I want to have a nice long chat but I have something else to attend to now." Rex turned around and headed toward the exit. Outside, stood several waiting gunships, all the Heavy Variant – Lieutenant Hawk's squadron used these gunships exclusively. He, Skywalker, Tur Mukaan, Omega, Delta, Squad 13 and the 9 Spartans stepped into the Gunship.

He could hear Hawk's voice in over the intercom "General Skywalker, where'd you pick up a couple of walkers from?"

"Just get us in the air, Hawk."

"Heh, yes General. Guess that armor weighs a lot."

**Boss's Perspective **

"It's rude to talk about a lady's weight" said Fi.

The three female Spartans body posture relaxed, one of them whose FOF tag read Kelly-087, swiped two fingers across her helmet. Fi's head cocked to the side and he could hear her response, "You're quite the gentleman Fi."

"Well thank you, hey Dar, you hear what she said?"

Atin responded, "Don't care what she said, you're still a di'kut."

Boss heard Kelly's response, and he could swear that she was both frowning in confusion and smiling because of the implied meaning, "Di'kut?"

Boss answered, "It means that he's an idiot. Something we're all inclined to agree with."

Another Spartan, Grace-097 also responded "All explosive experts are allowed some idiocy."

Scorch cut in, "Is it Red, Red, Green? Or Red, Green, Red?"

Boss could almost hear Sev sighing "And he's supposed to be our demolitions, expert."

The caused laughter to be emit from both the Clones and Spartans. Anyone observing would have very little clue that there was a conversation going on between any of the members of the group, let alone the exchange of jokes. He sighed. _Oh, the beauty of closed COM channels._ "ETA to drop zone is three minutes. Say again, ETA to Silent Cartographer is three minutes."

Boss got on the COM to the rest of his squad, "Let's lock and load Delta." Scorch, Sev and Fixer checked their weapons, slapping in new power cells wherever applicable. The rest of the drop ship followed suit, checking their weapons and prepping for combat.

"Hey Boss, what do you think we're going to find there?" asked Scorch.

"What we're looking for Scorch, a map room of sorts."

"No ancient evil or anything then?"

"I'm sure our friend will tell us when we have to face down the 'greatest evil of the known universe'."

"Besides, oh seven is a lot scarier than anything we've fought so far. Isn't that right Sev."

Fixer cut in, "Scorch, don't make me separate you two when we're less than a minute out from drop."

Just then the doors opened Scorch stepped out, "Last one to the top of the hill is a miserable di'kut!"

Darman followed him, "I would hate to have to steal Fi's title." Boss shook his head as he, Sev and Fixer followed a squad of Torrent Company troopers who had just exited the gunship beside their own.

"Hey!" protested FI as removed the heads of two Jackals and an Elite in quick succession. The Covenant were not expecting an assault of this magnitude and were quickly vanquished by their assault. The Republic Forces and the Spartans formed up before they continued their assault inward. Torrent Company took up positions as the Commandos and Spartans paused to await further orders.

Skywalker put away his lightsaber and turned toward them, "All right, the entrance should be around that bend. Delta, Omega, Squad 13 and Spartan Blue will follow me and General Tur Mukaan as we assault their positions. Rex, have a couple of squads hold this position, get Hawk to assign a gunship to stay as air cover."

Rex nodded, "Got it General! Aurek squad, Besh squad, unload the repeaters from the gunships, dig in here! The rest of you, follow me! We'll wait for General Skywalker's cue to assist." Boss watched as two squads moved back to the beach with four of the Torrent Company's AT-XT walkers and began unloading repeaters from the gunship as the other three gunships took off to provide air support.

"Alright, Hawke, soften them up!"

"You've got it General Skywalker!" Boss watched as the three gunships flew over their heads and began opening fire on the Covenant forces, tearing through their ranks. Hawk and his two wingmen hadn't even fired missiles yet, which told Boss that there was no Covenant armor or Heavy Infantry in the area. In all honesty he was just glad that they didn't have any Scarabs here. The Republic/UNSC forces pushed forward, past the broken Covenant defenses and up the hill to the next beach.

The squad of Grunts that came next were no match for the combined firepower of the two Commando Squads, Spartan Team, ARC Trooper Squad, two Jedi and remaining Torrent Company troopers. They fell within seconds, the only shots being fired were the results of involuntary actions as life left their corpses. Pushing past the dead Covenant they reached the entrance to the Silent Cartographer. Sev, Fi, and several of Torrent Company's snipers opened fire from where they stood, dropping a quarter of the of the Covenant, Elites and Jackals.

Captain Rex waved the rest of the Squads forward, they moved forward, cutting down the uncoordinated Grunts with precision. Moving with them they soon came across the entrance to the structure when the telltale sound of approaching Covenant Phantom dropships could be heard. Boss activated the inbuilt optical zoom in his helmet and counted around six. Approaching on their left was more Covenant troops, including the hulking Hunters. "General Skywalker, if we stay and fight the Covenant may find a way to lock us out!" called out Niner. Boss agreed, fighting the Covenant would allow the Covenant inside the structure to reinforce.

Skywalker nodded, "Omega, Delta, Squad 14, Spartans with me. Rex, hold this position!"

Rex saluted and un-holstered his disruptor pistols, "It's been an honor General Skywalker."

Skywalker nodded, "I have faith in you Rex, drinks are on me after this."

Rex nodded, "I'll hold you to that sir," he said before turning around "Hold the line, nothing passes us!"

Boss and the rest of Delta bounded down the slope toward the door, where five grunts and two Elites were waiting for them. Boss pulled a RBX-6 Thermal Detonator off of his belt, lobbing it toward the Covenant "Detonator!" It skidded until it reached the Covenant, one of the Grunts looked at it curiously. Boss smiled with grim satisfaction as a second before it blew the Elites realized what it was and turned to run before they were vaporized; charred weapons and pieces of armor still attached to bodies were all that were left.

The team of Jedi and Commandos ran toward the door to see and Elite Zealot growl at them before it hit a button on the panel beside him and the door that separated them began to close. Boss cursed and ran to stop the door from closing when suddenly it did on its own. "Go, I can hold this!" called out Skywalker. The Clones and Spartans walked through the door and when it was Skywalker's turn to go, Etain held the door open. Luckily for the Elite, he was long gone.

They reached pushed forward, until they entered a room filled with Covenant. Before anyone could say anything the Spartans charged in, systematically eliminating them. One of them with an M2 MPAC, blew an Elite to pieces. Another with a Z-8 wiped out six Grunts and a third with an Arakyd Ordinance Launcher killed at Elite who was attempting to charge them with a magnetic Baradium grenade. Darman looked at him in shock, to which he answered with a nod of appreciation. The Commandos and the Jedi fanned out when they heard a low guttural growl and heavy thunderous footfalls that echoed throughout the room – Hunters.

The two lumbering beasts stepped out and started firing at them with their Fuel Rod Cannons, forcing them into cover. "Scorch! Darman! Get some explosives on them now!" he yelled out. Scorch and Darman complied firing anti-armor rounds at one of them. Three rounds later, the creature gave a growl and one final swing to attempt to take out one of the Commandos before it fell to the ground, dead. The second one emitted an angered cry, loud and purposeful, right before it charged both Delta and Omega. Boss dived out of the way and was about to get back up on his feet when an explosion behind him knocked him to the floor once more.

He turned around and saw the Hunter walking up toward them, when suddenly General Skywalker jumped onto it and stabbed its shield with his Lightsaber. At first it seemed to be going well, but when Skywalker was having difficulty getting the blade out, not so much. Boss fumbled with his Deece trying to change to anti-armor mode. Suddenly, he saw two green blurs and the high pitched sound of an M2 MPAC discharging and the Hunter stopped trying to shake Skywalker off of its shield and instead dropped to the floor with a dull thump.

One of the two Spartans standing behind the Hunter triumphantly helped Skywalker up. "Thanks, I thought I had that."

"Happens to the best of us, sir" said the Spartan, Kelly-087.

With that the team moved on, finally ending up in a room with a honeycomb of sorts in the floor and what looked like a console in the center of the room. Skywalker's Holocom came to life and the Rakatan, Rehon appeared. "The Silent Cartographer," he paused for a moment "I have what we need. Let us leave, now." Skywalker made to make a comment but then stopped, motioning for them to leave.

"Rex, what's your status?" asked Skywalker.

The Torrent Company Captain's reply came in clear "A little banged up sir, but no worse for the wear. Two with minor injuries, nothing they can't walk off sir."

"Good job Rex, I'll see you before we launch the assault on the Control Room, Skywalker out."

Boss knew that Rex could hold the position, they were able to handle almost everything the Covenant threw at them. Their mission was a success. Despite securing the location of the Control Room, Boss couldn't shake the feeling that the worst was only to come.

**Till next time…**


End file.
